


Out of My Element

by InvisiMeg



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-26 13:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5006962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvisiMeg/pseuds/InvisiMeg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After moving to a new town, Rachel discovers there's more to some of her new classmates than she thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The New Girl In Town

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is for Halloween and it’s going to be seven chapters. I’ll be posting twice a week with the last chapter being on Halloween. Enjoy…
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 1 – The New Girl In Town**

Rachel shivered slightly as a cold gust of wind hit her.  She’d hoped to leave the cold, windy days back in New York, but Ohio was turning out to be much of the same.  She had only been there for four days, but so far, it had rained every single one of those days.  Thankfully, there was a lull in the rain, so she wasn’t going to show up for her first day of school completely soaked.

Rachel wasn’t the type of person to get nervous over many things—she’d sung on stage with hundreds of people looking at her without batting an eye—but the closer she got to the school, the harder her heart began to pound.  She had never been the new kid at school before, but that’s exactly what she would be walking into McKinley High.  And to make matters worse, she was coming in nearly two months into the year.

When she finally reached the front door of the school, she stopped for a moment, looking up at the building.  It was a lot different than the building she was used to, looking more like the high schools she had seen on television and in movies rather than the Gothic style building she’d spent the past two years in.

“Are you going in?”

“Yes, sorry,” Rachel said, looking over her shoulder.  “I’ll get out of your way.”

“You new here?” he asked.

“Is it that obvious?” Rachel asked, smiling.

“It’s not a big school and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around,” he said, pulling his backpack up higher on his shoulder.  “I’m Finn.”

“Rachel,” she replied.  “It’s nice to meet you.”

“If you, uh, need someone to show you around, let me know,” Finn said, giving her a crooked smile.

Rachel nodded and smiled back.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Finn opened the door, holding it open for her, and Rachel walked into the brightly lit hallway.

“Can you tell me where the principal’s office is?” Rachel asked.

“At the end down there, on the corner,” Finn said, pointing down the hall.  “You’ll probably want to see Miss Pillsbury.  She’s the guidance counselor and she usually knows more than Figgins does.  Her office is right next to his.”

“Thank you, Finn,” Rachel replied.

“No problem,” Finn said.  “You want me to walk you there.”

Rachel shook her head.  “I think I can find it, but thank you for the offer.”

Rachel gave him another smile and then began walking down the hallway, where Finn had indicated.  Halfway down the hall, though, Rachel stopped in her tracks, flinching as the girl walking in front of her was suddenly hit by something in a large cup.  The people around them were laughing and the girl ran off, disappearing into a nearby bathroom.  When the shock finally wore off, Rachel looked down to see if she had also been hit by the red substance, but it looked like it had actually missed her by a few inches.  There were splashes of it on the lockers and on the floor, but she’d managed not to get any of it on her coat, dress, or shoes.

Part of her wanted to run after the girl to make sure she was okay, but before she could decide whether or not she should follow, another girl walked into the bathroom behind her.  Hoping she was her friend and not someone who was just going in to laugh at her, Rachel continued on her way down the hall, stopping just outside the office for Emma Pillsbury.

“Miss Pillsbury?” Rachel asked, knocking lightly on the door frame.

“Yes, hi,” the redheaded woman said, standing up from her seat.  “I’m guessing you’re Rachel!”

“I am, yes,” Rachel replied, smiling.

“Great!” Miss Pillsbury said, her face lighting up in a smile.  “I have your schedule right here. We don’t offer a few of the classes you had in New York, but I think you’ll find these classes quite enjoyable and educational.  Your first class is just up the stairs out there and a little bit down the hall, on the right.  You can’t miss it.  Oh, and here’s your locker number and combination.”

“Thank you,” Rachel said, taking her schedule and the locker information from the woman.

“If you need anything, my door is always open,” Miss Pillsbury said.

Rachel looked at her schedule as she left the office, and then followed the woman’s directions to room 211.  When she walked in, half the seats were already occupied, so she walked to the closest one and took her bag off her shoulder.

“You don’t want to sit there.”

“Why not?” Rachel asked.

“Because the girl who usually sits there will just make you move,” the boy, who was impeccably dressed, answered before pointing to the seat behind him.  “This one is usually empty.”

“Thank you,” Rachel said,

“I’m Kurt,” he said, looking her up and down.

“Rachel,” she replied.

Kurt nodded.  “And where are you from, Rachel?”

“New York,” Rachel replied.

“City or—”

“Just outside,” Rachel answered.  “I’m going to move to the city as soon as I graduate, though.  I’m going to be on Broadway.”

“Ambitious,” Kurt said, looking slightly impressed.

Rachel glanced toward the door as three girls in cheerleading uniforms walked into the classroom.  Two of them had their pinkies linked together, trailing slightly behind the third.  For a split second, the blonde in front locked eyes with Rachel, but then the dark haired cheerleader said something, causing her to look back.

“You can thank me later,” Kurt said.

“What?” Rachel asked, taking her eyes off the blonde cheerleader.

Kurt motioned to where the three girls were sitting down, the darker haired girl sitting in the seat Rachel was going to take.

“You’ll see,” Kurt said.

***

“We always sit over here,” Kurt said, looking over his shoulder at Rachel.  “This is Tina, Mercedes, and Artie.  Everyone, this is Rachel.  She’s new here.”

“Hello, everyone,” Rachel said, taking a seat next to Kurt and across from the girl he’d indicated as Tina.

“You’re in my math class, right?” Mercedes asked.

“I think so, yes,” Rachel replied before looking at Tina.  “Are you okay?  That was you this morning in the hallway, wasn’t it?  What did they throw at you?”

“It was a slushy,” Tina answered.  “The football players and cheerleaders like to throw them at us.”

“Why would they do that?” Rachel asked.

“Welcome to McKinley,” Artie said.

Rachel had been bullied at her old school, but at least the students there hadn’t stooped to throwing frozen beverages at her.  There bulling had always been more mental than physical.

“C’mon,” Mercedes said, nudging Tina.  “We gotta go practice.  The rest of you wanna come?”

“I’m good,” Artie said.

“What about you two?” Mercedes asked.

“I think I’ll stay here,” Rachel said, having no idea where they were going.  “But thank you.”

“Me too,” Kurt added.

“Suit yourself,” Mercedes said with a shrug.

Tina followed Mercedes out of the cafeteria, leaving Rachel, Kurt, and Artie at the table.  Just as they walked out, the three cheerleaders Rachel had seen in her English class walked into the room, heading straight for the table with all the other cheerleaders and what she could only assume were the athletes.  Rachel noticed Finn was among them, sitting next to a boy with a mohawk.

As she watched them walk across the cafeteria, she couldn’t help noticing how everyone seemed to part for the trio.  Some of them looked a little afraid, and Rachel wondered if it was because they were afraid they were going to end up with a slushy in their face like Tina had or if it was something else.  They particularly seemed to be weary of the shorter of the blondes, and Rachel had a feeling that she was the leader of the group.

“Earlier, why did you say I would thank you for not letting me sit in that seat?” Rachel wondered, taking her eyes off the cheerleaders, and looking at Kurt.

“Because the one who sits there, Santana, is more than a little crazy,” Kurt replied.

“Totally crazy,” Artie added, nodding.

“And the other two?” Rachel asked.

“Brittany is the one on the right,” Kurt said.  “Not very bright.  Everyone knows she and Santana are together, but no one says anything because they’re all afraid of Santana.  The other is Quinn.  She’s captain of the Cheerios.”

“The Cheerios?” Rachel asked.

“That’s what the cheerleading squad is called,” Kurt said.  “They’ve won Nationals for the past eight years or something.”

“Why does everyone seem so afraid of them”? Rachel asked.  “Are they simply your typical mean girls?”

She noticed a look pass between Kurt and Artie, but neither of them said anything.

“What?” she asked.

“They’re definitely the mean girls of the school,” Artie said.  “Or at least Santana is.  The other two aren’t so horrible.”

“Why do I have a feeling there’s something you’re not saying,” Rachel said, looking between them.

“There have just been rumors,” Kurt replied.

“What kind of rumors?” Rachel asked.

“About their families,” Artie said.

“Supposedly their families have been close for generations,” Kurt added. 

“That’s not so strange,” Rachel replied.

“It’s not just that,” Kurt said.  “Some people say they’ve seen weird things happen around them.  But I’m not one to gossip.”

Artie snorted.  “You’re always one to gossip.”

“What kind of weird things?” Rachel asked.

Kurt shrugged.  “Why are you so interested?”

“I guess I’m just a naturally curious person,” Rachel said.

“Well, you’ll have to ask Tina if you really want to know,” Kurt replied.  “She knows more than I do.”

Rachel nodded, though she had no intention of asking Tina anything.  She wasn’t even sure why she’d really asked Kurt in the first place.

***

Rachel sighed to herself as she walked into the high school on Wednesday morning, closing her dripping umbrella.  It was so windy out that the umbrella had been next to useless.  Most of her lower half was soaked, and her shoes squished beneath her feet with every step she took down the hallway.

She quickly walked down the nearly empty hall to her locker.  It was only her third day at McKinley, and she was already late for the first time.  She couldn’t even remember the last time she was late to class.  She wasn’t the type to be tardy or to miss school.  The last time had been in the seventh grade when she had the flu, and even then, she had made her father go to the school to find out what she had missed that day.

Rachel hurried to her locker and put her combination it, hoping she remembered it correctly.  Thankfully, it opened on the first try—something she’d been having difficulty with—and she opened her locker, pulling out her English and math books, and shoving her chemistry book and umbrella inside.  As she went to close her locker door, though, it knocked into her bag, dumping half of its contents onto the hallway floor.

“This is not my day,” Rachel said, throwing her hands up in frustration.

Rachel sighed as she knelt down and began picking her things up.  She usually kept her bag organized, but she didn’t bother trying to put anything where it belonged, throwing everything in as fast as she could.  She was already late enough; she certainly didn’t need to be even later.  She didn’t know what the school’s policy on tardiness was, but the last thing she wanted was to get in trouble on her first week there.  She’d never had detention before, and she didn’t want to start now.

“I’m guessing this is yours.”

Rachel glanced up and saw the red and white of a cheerleading uniform before looking up, locking eyes with Quinn, who was holding up her lip balm.

“Thank you,” Rachel said after a moment, taking the tube from Quinn.  “Everything decided to spill out of my bag when I was already late for first period.”

“That always seems to be the way,” Quinn remarked.  “Your name is Rachel, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she replied, a little surprised the other girl knew her name since they’d never been introduced.  “Rachel Berry.”

“From New York,” Quinn said.

Rachel nodded.  “I guess news travels fast around here.”

“We don’t really get a lot of transfers in the middle of the year,” Quinn said.

“Believe me, I would have preferred to have started at the beginning of the year,” Rachel replied.  “Or, at the very least, when the spring term began.”

Quinn shrugged.  “Lima isn’t always so bad.”

“Yeah, I—” Rachel shook her head, suddenly remembering she was very late to class.  “I’m sorry; I’m tardy and need to get to class.  Wait, aren’t you in my class.”

“Yeah,” Quinn said, looking over her shoulder.  “Coach Sylvester wanted to talk to me.  She’s the Cheerios coach.”

“I’ve heard,” Rachel replied.

Quinn smiled and Rachel momentarily didn’t care if she was late for class.  It was the first time she had seen Quinn smile, and if it was possible, she looked even prettier than usual.  Not that she was usually staring at Quinn or anything.  It was just hard not to notice someone as attractive as Quinn was.

“Do they give out detention here for being late or will they suspend me?” Rachel asked.

“Relax,” Quinn said.  “Come on.”

Rachel zipped up her bag and quickly walked after Quinn, who was already making her way down the hall.  “They won’t suspend me, will they?  I don’t think my fathers would be very happy if I was suspended the first week of school.  Well, they would never be happy about it, but the first week just seems worse.”

“I told you to relax,” Quinn said, looking over her shoulder.

Rachel frowned but followed Quinn, nevertheless.  She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to relax when she was fifteen minutes late for first period, and as Quinn opened the classroom door, she braced herself for whatever was to come.

“You’re late,” their teacher said.

“Coach Sylvester needed help,” Quinn stated.

“From both of you?” Mr. Jackson asked.

“Rachel was helping me so I could get to class quicker,” Quinn lied.

“We’re on page sixty-three,” he said.  “And don’t be late again.”

“No, sir,” Rachel replied, quickly taking her seat behind Kurt.

Quinn took a little longer to walk to her seat, clearly in no hurry.  When she finally sat down, she glanced over at Rachel, who gave her a grateful smile.  She didn’t know why Quinn had lied for her, but she didn’t really care.  She was just happy she wasn’t going to end up in detention.

***

Rachel glanced down the hallway at Quinn, who was standing at her locker with Brittany and Santana.  She wanted to thank Quinn for helping her the day before when she didn’t have to, but she didn’t want to do it with the other two there.  Unfortunately, Quinn never seemed to be alone.  She was always with the other two, and Rachel wasn’t prepared to go up to all three of them.

From what she’d heard from others and seen with her own eyes, Santana was a little scary.  She would usually assume that her bark was worse than her bite, but Santana didn’t seem opposed to physical confrontation.  Of course, maybe she just knew Quinn and Brittany would stop her before she actually had to do anything.  Rachel had yet to see her in a fight even though she was constantly threatening to ‘go all Lima Heights’ on people.  Whatever that meant, Rachel had no idea.

“Have you finished the chemistry homework?”

“Good morning to you, Kurt,” Rachel said.  “And of course I have; it’s due today, after all.”

“Care to help a friend out during study hall?” Kurt asked.  “I’ve got most of it done, but if you could just explain how to do a few of the problems, I would be forever grateful.”

“Yes, I can help you,” Rachel replied.

McKinley was a bit behind her old school, so she had already learned what they were currently working on in nearly every class.  Thankfully, that meant she didn’t really have a hard time adjusting.  At least not when it came to the classwork.  Adjusting to the town had been an entirely different matter.

“What did you end up doing last night?” Kurt asked.

“I had quite a bit of homework, so I did all of that, including the things that aren’t due until tomorrow,” Rachel replied.  “I thought it would be best if I got them out of the way, though.  I also watched a little television with my fathers, but mostly homework.  Speaking of which, do they always give this much?”

“It should start dying down soon,” Kurt said.  “They like to give more at the beginning of the year, but then I think they get tired of grading it, so they cut back.”

Rachel shook her head as she pulled her English book out of her locker.  “At my old school, they didn’t give us so much busywork.  They gave us homework when it was important, which I think is a much better way of doing things.”

“Give it a week or two,” Kurt said, shrugging his shoulder.  “They usually stop by mid-October.”

“Who stops what?” Finn asked, leaning against the locker next to Rachel’s.

“The teachers stop giving so much homework,” Kurt replied.

“Dude, I hope so,” Finn said.  “I’ve gotta keep a C average to stay on the team, and all this work is making it really hard to do other things.”

Kurt rolled his eyes.  “Like I don’t hear you playing those shooting games all evening.”

Rachel frowned.  “Do you two live next door to each other?”

“Didn’t I ever tell you?” Kurt asked.  “My dad and Finn’s mother started dating last year.  They moved in over the summer, and I imagine our parents are going to get married soon.”

“Yeah, so if you ever come hang out with Kurt, you could hang out with me, too,” Finn said.

Rachel smiled but didn’t say anything as she closed her locker.  As she turned around, her eyes drifted over to Quinn, who was walking down the hallway with Brittany and Santana close behind her.

“I gotta go see Coach Beiste,” Finn announced.  “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you later.”

He gave Rachel a smile, which Rachel returned, but as he began walking away, her eyes immediately went to Quinn again.  She was beginning to wonder if Brittany and Santana ever went anywhere without Quinn.  As far as she could tell, they had all of the same classes and participated in the same extracurriculars.

“Looks like someone has a crush,” Kurt remarked.

“I’m sure he’s just being nice,” Rachel replied, looking at Kurt.

“I’m not talking about Finn,” Kurt said.

“I can assure you, I do not have a crush on Finn,” Rachel replied.

Kurt smirked.  “I wasn’t talking about a crush on Finn. I was talking about your crush on a certain blonde cheerleader I always see you looking at.”

Rachel felt herself blush; she’d hoped she wasn’t being so obvious, but apparently she hadn’t been as discreet as she’d thought.  Or maybe Kurt was just more observant than the people she was used to being around.

“We should go,” Rachel said, ignoring Kurt’s remark.  “I don’t want to be late for class two days in a row.”

***

Rachel sighed and laid her head against the steering wheel as she tried one last time to get the car to start.  It had been the first day her fathers had let her drive it, and now she couldn’t even get it to start.

“Please,” Rachel whispered, turning the key again, but the engine failed to start.

Sighing, she felt around the floor for the lever to pop the hood, but she accidentally popped the trunk instead.  After another moment, though, she found the one for the hood, and grabbed her umbrella from the backseat before getting out into the rain.

It wasn’t raining nearly as heavily as it had been earlier in the week, but there was still a steady drizzle.  She quickly ran around to the back of the car and closed the trunk before everything inside got wet, and then walked around to the front.  She struggled with lifting the hood and securing it into place, but she eventually got it, and then stared at the engine.  She didn’t know a lot about cars, but her assumption was that the battery was dead and she was going to have to find someone to jump it.  Unfortunately, most of the other students had already left, and she wasn’t entirely sure that it would be safe to do it in the rain even if she could find someone.

“Do you need a ride?”

Rachel hadn’t heard the car approaching over the sound of the rain, but when she looked over her shoulder, she found Quinn sitting in her car with the window rolled down.

“I think the battery is dead,” Rachel said.

“Come on,” Quinn replied, motioning toward the passenger seat.

Rachel looked at her car again, hesitating only a moment before putting the hood back down.

“Let me grab my bag,” Rachel said.

She quickly opened the door and grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat.  She then took a look around to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything she could possibly need and locked the doors before walking over and getting in Quinn’s car.

“Thank you,” Rachel said, putting on her seat belt.  “I don’t know why it wouldn’t start.  It worked perfectly fine this morning.”

“It’s supposed to be dry tomorrow, so maybe you can get someone to jump it,” Quinn commented.

“Yes, I’m sure one of my fathers will drive me in the morning,” Rachel replied.  “Hopefully that’s all it needs.”

She glanced at Quinn, who had no visible reaction to the mention of her having two fathers.  Even in New York, she had been bullied by a few of her classmates for it, and she had wondered how much worse it would be when she moved to Ohio.  So far, though, no one had said anything about it.  Of course, she’d only mentioned it to Kurt and now Quinn.

“Which way?” Quinn asked.

“Oh, sorry!” Rachel said.  “Right.  I live on Maple Road.”

Quinn nodded.  “I guess you moved into that big, stone house.”

“We did, yes,” Rachel replied.  “Do you live near there?”

“No, but I’ve been over there before,” Quinn replied.

Rachel nodded and then looked out at the dreary sky.  “You know, I don’t think it’s not rained a day since I’ve been here.  It’ll be nice to actually see what this town looks like in the sun.”

“I actually like the rain,” Quinn replied.

“Really?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.  “It’s—peaceful.”

“I don’t mind it when I’m at home and have nowhere to be, but it’s less fun to walk in,” Rachel said.  “Especially when it’s been so windy that an umbrella is practically useless.”

Quinn glanced at her.  “I’ve noticed.”

They fell silent, and Rachel glanced at Quinn out of the corner of her eye.  The radio was playing softly but could barely be heard over the sound of the rain and the constant swoosh of the windshield wipers.

“I, um, I wanted to thank you for Wednesday,” Rachel said after a minute or two of silence.  “I didn’t get a chance to say it then, but thank you.” She shook her head.  “You really didn’t have to do that.”

Quinn shrugged.  “It’s no big deal.”

“You lied to a teacher for me,” Rachel stated.  “I don’t know if a lot of people would have done that.”

“Really, it’s nothing,” Quinn replied.

“Well, even if you think it was nothing, I don’t,” Rachel said.  “So, thank you.”

“It’s the next road, right?” Quinn asked.

“Yes,” Rachel replied.

Rachel watched the houses pass by as they got closer to the place she now called home.  The neighborhood was a lot different than the one she had grown up in.  There was a lot more space between the houses and they were quite a bit bigger.  While they’d had a nice house in New York, it was nothing compared to the house her fathers had bought in Lima.  For nearly the same price, it was about twice as big as their New York home and had a spacious backyard with a small forest just beyond.

“Thank you for the ride,” Rachel said as Quinn pulled into the driveway.  “You certainly have impeccable timing.   It seems like you’re always there when I need help.”

“It’s no problem,” Quinn replied, giving her a small smile.

“I guess I’ll see you Monday at school,” Rachel said, resting her hand on the car door handle.  “Have a good weekend, Quinn.”

“You too,” Quinn replied.

Rachel gave Quinn a smile before getting out of the car and rushing over to the small awning at the front door.  When she turned around, Quinn was just beginning to pull out of the driveway, and as she began driving back the way she’d come, they quickly waved at each other.  As she turned to the door to let herself in, Rachel smiled to herself, grateful that things had gone as well as they had during her first week.

 


	2. Partners

**Chapter 2 – Partners**

“Medium hot chocolate!”

“Thank you,” Rachel said, smiling at the barista.

Rachel picked the cup up from the counter and turned around to grab a napkin.  She glanced toward the door and did a double take when she saw Quinn walk into the Lima Bean.  It was Sunday morning and there were only a few other customers in the coffee shop, so it didn’t take long for Quinn to look her way.

Quinn smiled and Rachel gave her a slight wave before taking a step toward the exit.  She stopped, though, and looked back at Quinn, who was standing in line behind an old man.  After a few moments, Rachel began walking toward her, and Quinn looked over her shoulder as she approached.

“Hi,” Rachel said, smiling.  “I was going to leave, but then I thought it would be rude if I didn’t come over and say hello.”

“Hey,” Quinn replied.  “Did you get your car working?”

“I did, yes,” Rachel said.  “My father went to the school yesterday to jump it, and it started right up.  He took it to the garage to have it tested, and they said I must have left a light on or something, but I don’t remember leaving one on.” Rachel shrugged.  “Everything’s fine now, though, and I guess that’s all that matters.”

“Good,” Quinn replied.

“Thanks again for the ride on Friday,” Rachel said. “I really wasn’t looking forward to having to walk home in the rain.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Quinn replied.  “I’m glad I could help.”

“I, um, I suppose I should go,” Rachel said

“Hey,” Quinn said as Rachel started to turn away.  “Are you doing anything right now?”

“I was thinking about taking a walk around town,” Rachel replied with a shrug.  “Maybe walk through the park.  Since it’s actually a nice day out.”

“Want any company?” Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled.  “Sure.  Of course.”

Rachel was a little surprised Quinn had asked to join her, but she certainly wasn’t unhappy about it.  She wasn’t really sure why Quinn was being so nice to her, and part of her wondered if she should be wary of it, but Rachel liked to believe the good in people.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t really used to be people being nice to her.  Especially not the popular girls, and Quinn was definitely the most popular girl at Rachel’s new high school.

After waiting on Quinn’s order, which thankfully didn’t take too long, they walked out of the Lima Bean and began walking down the sidewalk.  The air was a little chilly and the sky was overcast, but it was definitely a much nicer day than the previous week.

“Most of the stores don’t open until later,” Quinn said as they passed by a clothing store with darkened windows.

“That’s okay,” Rachel replied, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.  “I’ll just make a mental note of the ones I would like to actually go in some day.”

“Is Lima a lot different than the place you lived before?” Quinn asked.

“Yes and no,” Rachel replied.  “It’s certainly smaller, and it’s unfortunate that I can’t go into the city and watch a Broadway show on the weekend like I could there, but I’m beginning to realize it’s not as different as I thought.”

“Why did you move here?” Quinn asked.  “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Not at all,” Rachel replied.  “My father is an engineer, and the company he works for wanted him to transfer here to run the new plant that’s opening soon.  My other father is a writer, so he can do that anywhere, which means we had to pack up and move here.  I tried to get them to wait until December, while the school would be on winter break, so I would have a little more time to get settled before having to begin school, but my father’s company wanted him to come now.  I also proposed the idea of Daddy and I staying in New York until then, but I was obviously unable to convince them.”

“Did you like your old school that much?” Quinn asked.

“No,” Rachel replied with a sad smile.  “But I grew up in that house and I didn’t want to leave it.  It was just such short notice.  I found out on a Tuesday; four days later, the house was for sale and we were packing.  It didn’t give me a lot of time to get used to the idea.”

“Do you want to go through the park?” Quinn asked, nodding across the street.

Rachel nodded.  “It looks so pretty.” She glanced at Quinn as they began crossing the road.  “Fall has always been my favorite season.”

“Mine too,” Quinn replied.

“I was afraid the leaves wouldn’t be as pretty here, but I’m happy I was wrong,” Rachel said, taking another drink.  “I’m also happy to see the hot chocolate is very good here.”

Quinn laughed.  “Their coffee is pretty good, too.”

“I’ll have to try it next time,” Rachel said, giving her a smile.

***

“Do anything fun this weekend?” Kurt asked, stopping by her locker, and leaning his back against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

Rachel shrugged.  “I mostly stayed home.  I did explore the town a little and I did some research to see where the closest dance studio is.  Speaking of which, why didn’t you tell me there is a Glee Club at this school?  A Glee Club that you are a part of?”

“I figured Miss Pillsbury told you about it,” Kurt replied.

“All she did was hand me my schedule and my locker assignment,” Rachel said with a frown.

“I didn’t know if you would be interested,” Kurt said.

“Of course I’m interested!” Rachel replied.

“Well, talk to Mr. Schue,” Kurt said.  “He’s the director.  I wouldn’t get too excited, though.  We don’t even have enough people to compete.  No one wants to join, and it’s just going to make you a target with the Neanderthal football players.  That’s why I didn’t ask you.”

“Who all is in it?” Rachel wondered.

“It’s just me, Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and Finn,” Kurt replied.

Rachel furrowed her brows.  “How did Finn manage to join?”

“We don’t know,” Kurt replied.  “Mr. Schue got him to somehow; Finn wouldn’t say how.”

“You should have figured out by now that I don’t care what people think of me,” Rachel stated.  “Plus, I always love an audience, and it would certainly look good on my college applications.”

“Like I said, talk to Mr. Schue,” Kurt said.  “Although, I can’t imagine him saying no.”

Rachel nodded.  “I’ll be sure to talk to him after class today.”

She couldn’t believe it when Quinn had told her about the Glee Club.  It was exactly the type of thing she liked to be involved with, but she had assumed the school was too small to have one.  Kurt knew her lifelong dream of being on Broadway, so she didn’t understand why he hadn’t mentioned the club to her.  Unless he was just afraid that she would be better than him.

“Your crush is here,” Kurt said with a slight smirk.

She didn’t have to look to know that he was talking about Quinn.  He liked to tease her about it, but he’d thankfully not said anything to anyone else.  McKinley seemed like the type of school where gossip would travel quickly, and she would rather everyone not know something so personal after only her second week there.

“When does the Glee Club meet?” Rachel asked as she closed her locker and turned around.

“Hey, Rachel.”

“Good morning, Quinn,” Rachel said.

She was a little surprised the blonde had spoken to her, and she wasn’t the only one.  Santana had scowled, looking between Rachel and Quinn.  Brittany didn’t look that surprised, but she did look moderately interested.  Kurt, however, looked stunned, his eyebrows shooting up,

“Would you care to explain why the most popular girl in school just spoke to you?” Kurt asked as the trio continued on their way down the hall.

Rachel shrugged.  “She’s nice.”

Kurt scoffed.  “No, she’s not.”

“Well, she’s been nice to me,” Rachel said, shrugging again.  “The other day when I was late to class, I wasn’t actually helping Quinn.  I was late because my alarm didn’t go off, and then when I got here, everything in my bag spilled out.  Quinn helped me and when we got to class, she lied so I wouldn’t get in trouble.  And then Friday, when I got in my car to go home, it wouldn’t start, so she gave me a ride.  Oh, and I ran into her at the Lima Bean on Sunday. She was the one who showed me around town.”

Kurt shook his head, looking as if he was in disbelief.  “I think I’m actually speechless.”

“Maybe she’s just nicer than you think,” Rachel said.  “Maybe you just think she isn’t because she’s friends with Santana, who, admittedly, does not appear to be very nice.”

“People don’t call her the Ice Queen for no reason,” Kurt replied.

“Well, maybe they’re wrong,” Rachel said.

“Or maybe you just don’t see it because of your crush,” Kurt replied.  “Either way, it’s too bad you can’t get your new friend to join Glee.”

 “I don’t know if I would call us friends,” Rachel said.

“Whatever,” Kurt replied, shrugging as Rachel followed him into their first period classroom.

“You never answered,” Rachel said.  “When does the Glee Club meet?”

“Monday, Wednesday, and Friday right after school,” Kurt replied.

“Well, then, I’ll be sure to call my father during lunch and let him know I’m going to be late today,” Rachel said, smiling.

***

Everyone groaned as the history teacher told them they were going to be pairing up to do a project.  Rachel was especially not thrilled with the prospect of having to partner with someone.  She always seemed to be the one who was picked last despite her perfect grade point average, and then she usually ended up doing almost all of the work.

“I want you all to research the history of Lima,” Mrs. Davies said.  “Each group will get a different time period, and you will present your report to the class, as well as writing one.  You will not be able to find everything online like I know you all are hoping.  Talk to local histories.  Consult the library.  Talk to your elders.  I want you to dig into this town’s history.  It’s more interesting than you think.”

“Hey, you wanna pair up?” Finn asked, turning around in his seat to look at Rachel.

“Not so fast,” Mrs. Davies said, holding up her hand.  “I’ll be pairing you up for the project.” Everyone groaned again.  “I let you group yourselves last time and it was clear you did more socializing with each other than actual work.  I’m not going to make the same mistake.  This time, your fate will be left up to chance.” She pulled a jar out of her desk with pieces of paper in it.  “When I call your names, you can pair up and begin discussing the assignment for the remainder of the class.  I’ll walk around and let you know what time period you will be researching.”

“This sucks,” Finn mumbled.

Rachel gave Finn an apologetic look, though she wasn’t all that sorry.  Finn was sweet, but he didn’t seem to care about his education very much, and she knew she would end up being the one to do all the work.  Thankfully, though, he was paired with one of the other football players.

It eventually came down to Rachel, Quinn, Santana, a football player, someone she thought was named Jacob, and a girl she didn’t know.  She silently hoped she wouldn’t be paired with Santana, who she couldn’t imagine would want to do her fair share of the work, or the Jacob kid since he was always leering at her and every other girl in the school.

“Rachel and,” Mrs. Davies reached into the jar, unfolding the piece of paper she pulled out, “Quinn.”

“How sweet,” Santana said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as she picked up her things and stood up to join Quinn, ignoring Santana’s remark.  She didn’t know a lot about Quinn, but she did know she was intelligent and would probably make a good partner.  She certainly didn’t seem like the type to make her do all of the work, and then threaten her to not tell the teacher like she had experienced at her old school.

“I hope you don’t mind being partnered with me,” Rachel said as she turned the desk in front of Quinn around.

“I’m relieved, actually,” Quinn replied.

Rachel smiled, smoothing her skirt down as she sat in the chair.  “Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot about this town since I just moved here, but I am quite good at research.” She opened her notebook.  “When would be the best time for us to meet?”

“How about tomorrow evening at my house?” Quinn said.  “I have practice until five, but I’m free after that.”

“That would be fine,” Rachel replied, jotting it down.  “We can see where we’re at tomorrow evening and determine if we need to meet more after that.”

“If we do, I can’t do it Friday,” Quinn said.  “I have to be at the football game.”

Rachel nodded; she’d never been to a football game before and didn’t understand the appeal, but it seemed to be a big deal in Lima.  From what she’d heard, though, the football team was pretty terrible.

“You’re in luck,” their teacher said, handing Quinn a piece of paper.  “1891 to 1911.”

“Why did she say we’re in luck?” Rachel asked as Mrs. Davies moved on to the next group.

“You really don’t know anything about this town, do you?” Quinn said.  “There was a fire in 1908.  A lot of people died.”

Rachel frowned.  “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah,” Quinn said, glancing toward Santana.  “At least it’ll give us something to write about, though.”

“I suppose so,” Rachel replied just as the bell rang.

“What’s your number?” Quinn asked, pulling out her phone as everyone else began packing their things and heading toward the door.  “I can text you the directions to my house.”

“914-555-8792,” Rachel said, watching Quinn as she typed her number in.

Quinn nodded and then put her phone in her bag before shouldering it.  “I sent you a text, so you should have my number.”

“Great,” Rachel said, smiling.  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Quinn.”

“Yeah,” Quinn softly replied, smiling back.  “See you.”

***

Rachel double-checked her phone to make sure she had the correct address before turning off her car. She stepped out of the car and closed the door while staring up the enormous and beautiful Tudor style stone house.  It wasn’t quite a mansion, but it was far larger than her new home, which was quite large.

Rachel walked up the long path to the door, where she hesitated for a few moments before finally ringing the bell.  She took a step back as she waited, hoping she had the correct house and wasn’t ringing the doorbell to some stranger’s home.  It felt like she was waiting forever, but just as she was about to ring the doorbell again, the door opened, revealing an older woman, who was dressed up.

“Hello,” Rachel said, putting a smile on her face.  “I’m here to see Quinn.”

“I didn’t know Quinn was expecting any guests,” she said.

“We were paired for a history project,” Rachel explained.  “She asked me to meet her here, so—”

“Hey,” Quinn said, coming up behind who Rachel assumed was her mother.

“Hi,” Rachel replied, smiling.

“You didn’t tell me you were expecting anyone,” the older woman said, turning toward Quinn.

“We’re just working on a school project, mom,” Quinn replied.

“So I’ve heard,” Quinn’s mom said.  “But a little head’s up would have been nice.”

Rachel noticed Quinn roll her eyes as the elder Fabray looked at Rachel again and said, “I’m sorry, dear; please come in.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Fabray,” Rachel replied, walking into the house.

“Judy, please,” she said before turning to her daughter.  “I’m going to check on your father.”

“No need; I’m right here,” he said, walking toward the door.  “And who’s this?”

“This is Rachel,” Quinn answered.

“They’re working on a school project,” Judy added.

He nodded and seemed to be appraising Rachel.  “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“No, I just moved here a few weeks ago,” Rachel said.

Mr. Fabray nodded again.  “Well, Rachel, make sure my daughter doesn’t spend the whole night on the phone.”

“I doubt that will be a problem,” Rachel replied.  “I’m sure Quinn is as eager to work on this project as I am.”

Mr. Fabray laughed.  “I like this girl.”

“We’re going to be late,” Judy said.

“And that would be such a tragedy,” Mr. Fabray replied.  “Alright; we’re going.  Be good.  We won’t be home until late.” He turned to Rachel.  “Don’t let my daughter have any parties.”

Quinn rolled her eyes.  “Goodnight.”

“It was nice meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Fabray,” Rachel said just before Quinn closed the door behind them.

“Sorry,” Quinn said.  “I thought they’d be gone before you came.”

Rachel shrugged.  “It’s fine.”

“My room is up there,” Quinn said, nodding toward the ornate staircase.  “Do you want anything to eat or drink before we go up?”

Rachel shook her head.  “I’m okay.  I had an early dinner before I came over.”

Quinn nodded and then led Rachel up the stairs.  They passed by about a half a dozen different doors before Quinn finally stopped at one and opened it up.  Rachel couldn’t help wondering just how many bedrooms the house had, but her thoughts were abruptly stopped when she walked into Quinn’s room.

“Wow,” Rachel said.

The room had an incredibly high ceiling and was three times as big as Rachel’s bedroom.  The walls were light blue with dark wood wainscoting on the lower half, and most of the furniture was in the same color of wood.  Most impressive, though, was the window nook with bookshelves set into the wall on one side.

“Your room is amazing,” Rachel said, turning toward Quinn.  “I’ve always wanted one of those seats at the window.  It must be nice sitting there and being able to watch it rain or snow.”

“Have started doing any research?” Quinn asked as she sat down on her bed.

“A little,” Rachel replied.  “I thought it would be best to look online and see what we can find there.  We’ll probably at least need to go to the library, but I figured we can start off by using the internet.  I brought my laptop; I bookmarked a few things yesterday evening.  I didn’t get the chance to go over them very thoroughly, but they looked promising.” She paused when she noticed Quinn smiling.  “What?”

“I’m just happy we got paired up,” Quinn said.  “The last time I got stuck with Finn.”

“I’m guessing he wasn’t a good partner?” Rachel replied.

“All he did was talk about football and video games,” Quinn said.  “Not to mention the fact that he trying to hit on me the whole time, but he’s not very good at being charming, though I think he thought he was.”

“I know the feeling,” Rachel replied.  “He isn’t very good at it, is he?”

Quinn rolled her eyes.  “I just ended up laughing at him.”

“I’m trying to be nice about it and subtly let him know I’m not interested,” Rachel said, glancing at Quinn.  “I’m beginning to think I may have to be a little more straightforward with him.” Rachel shook her head.  “Anyway, I’ll show you what I’ve found so far, and then we can go from there.”

***

Rachel stretched as she stood up from Quinn’s bed.  She’d been hunched over her laptop for a few hours, jotting things down in her notebook, and making notes about some of the things Quinn had found.  The had a good start, but she knew they were nowhere near being done, and they were definitely going to have to the library or possibly find a historian if the town had one.  Unfortunately, the paper was due on Wednesday, so they didn’t have an inordinate amount of time.

“I’m going to get something to drink,” Quinn said, standing up as well.  “Do you want anything?”

“I could probably use a little pick-me-up if you have coffee,” Rachel replied.

“We definitely have coffee,” Quinn said.  “My dad drinks it all day.”

“Mine does too,” Rachel replied.  “Well, Daddy does.”

“Which one is that?” Quinn asked, opening the bedroom door.

“Leroy,” Rachel replied as she followed Quinn out of the room.  “The writer.  My other father, the engineer, is Hiram and I call him Dad.”

Quinn nodded.  “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No,” Rachel shook her head, “it’s just me.  It would be nice to have a sibling, but they always just wanted to adopt one child, and lucky for me, I was the one they chose.”

“How old were you?” Quinn asked as they walked down the stairs to the first floor.

“I was just a newborn,” Rachel replied.  “My biological mother chose them while she was pregnant with me.  They took me home from the hospital, so they’re all I’ve ever known.”

“Must be nice,” Quinn remarked.

“Why do you say that?” Rachel asked.

“At least you have no doubt they wanted you,” Quinn said.

Rachel was about to ask if that’s how Quinn felt about her parents, but she closed her mouth when she reminded herself that they didn’t know each other very well, and it was a very personal question.  It was strange; she kept feeling like she had known Quinn longer than she had.  Certainly longer than two weeks, anyway.

“Do you want a regular coffee, espresso, or a latte?” Quinn asked.

“Regular coffee is fine,” Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded.  “Hazelnut, vanilla, or plain.”

“You have quite the selection,” Rachel commented.

“My sister likes to drink it when she’s here,” Quinn said, shaking her head.  “I usually just go to the Lima Bean.”

“I guess I’ll take vanilla,” Rachel said, sitting down at the large island in the center of the kitchen.

Quinn threw one of the little plastic cups in the coffee maker before grabbing a mug and filling it with water.  Rachel watched her for a moment before she started glancing around the room.  The kitchen, like the rest of the house, was large, and looked as if it had come straight out of a magazine.

“So, what do your parents do, if you don’t mind me asking?” Rachel asked.

“My dad buys companies and fixes whatever is wrong with them, and then sells them,” Quinn answered.

“Just local companies or—”

“No, he travels a lot,” Quinn said.

Rachel nodded.  “Does your mom work too?”

“No,” Quinn replied.  “Unless you count watching the maid to make sure she doesn’t steal anything as work.” Quinn rolled her eyes.  “She likes to plan social events and she’s on a bunch of committees.  Don’t ask me what any of them are, because I have no idea.”

“Thank you,” Rachel said, smiling at Quinn when she set the mug of coffee down in front of her.

“Cream and sugar?” Quinn asked.

“Please,” Rachel replied.

“So, have you lived in Lima all your life?” Rachel wondered as Quinn pulled the creamer out of the refrigerator.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.  “Born and raised.  Did you always live in New York.”

Rachel nodded.  “Not the same town, but yes.”

Quinn hummed as she grabbed another mug.  As she pulled it out of the cabinet, though, it knocked one of the other mugs, causing it to fall.  Rachel gasped as she watched it fall, too far away to do anything, but before it hit the floor, Quinn managed to catch it midair.

“Wow,” Rachel said, impressed by how quick Quinn had been.  “You have great reflexes.”

“Yeah,” Quinn said, glancing at her.  “It probably comes from cheerleading.  Hey, are you hungry?  I could order a pizza.  Or something else if you don’t like pizza.”

Rachel smiled.  “I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like pizza.”

“Is that a yes, then?” Quinn asked.

“Yes,” Rachel nodded, “pizza would be great.  Can you get only vegetables on my half?  I’m a vegetarian.”

“Me too,” Quinn said.

“Really?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.

“At least we have one thing in common,” Rachel commented, smiling.

“I’m guessing we have more than you think in common,” Quinn replied before heading out of the kitchen.  “I’m going to go grab my phone to order.”

“I’ll be right here,” Rachel said, looking over her shoulder at Quinn, wondering if she had been referring to anything in particular.


	3. The Element of Surprise

**Chapter 3 – The Element of Surprise**

Rachel frowned as she looked around.  She didn’t understand how so many people could be excited about a bunch of teenage boys running a ball down a field, but it seemed like half the town was at the football game.  And she especially didn’t understand it when the football team wasn’t even very good. 

The only person on the team that appeared to be any good was the one in the number twenty jersey, who seemed to be unnaturally skilled at dodging people as he ran down the field.  That was when Finn actually managed to get the ball to him, which wasn’t very often.  Rachel didn’t know a lot about the game, but she was pretty sure his teammates should be better at blocking people from getting to him, but Finn was constantly getting hit by the opposing team before he could even throw the ball.

Everyone around her groaned when the clock hit zero and the official blew his whistle.  For a moment, Rachel thought the game was over, but then she heard something about halftime and realized it was only halfway over.  Sighing, she stood up and began walking down the bleachers to see if she could find something warm to drink.  She was wearing a coat and gloves, but the air had grown increasingly chillier as the night wore on, and she was beginning to regret her decision to wear a skirt to the game.

“Hey!  Rachel!”

Rachel sighed to herself when she heard Finn’s voice, but she turned around, nevertheless.

“I didn’t know you liked football,” Finn said, jogging over to her.

“I don’t really,” Rachel replied.  “This is the first game I’ve ever watched.  I thought it would be a good experience.  One of those things ever high schooler should do at least once before they graduate.”

“Ow!” Finn said, grabbing his head.

Rachel jumped away as the football that had hit him in the side of his head bounced toward her.  She heard laughter from the cheerleaders that were walking by, including Santana and Brittany.  Quinn was with them as well with a smirk on her face.  She looked Rachel and Finn’s way, cocking her eyebrow slightly, and then giving Rachel a smile.

“Who did that?” Finn asked.

Rachel frowned as she looked toward the football field.  She knew it had to have come from that direction since it had hit Finn in the side of the head, but there was no one left on the field.  Or at least no one she could see.

“I don’t know,” Rachel said.

“I, uh, I gotta go to the locker room,” Finn said, rubbing at his head.

“Good luck with the rest of the game,” Rachel replied.

“Yeah, thanks,” Finn said, frowning.

Rachel glanced toward the field again as the marching band began to walk onto it, and then began walking toward the concession stand.  Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to have the same idea.  There didn’t even seem to be an orderly line; instead, everyone was just crowded around.

“I’m surprised you’re here.”

Rachel smiled and then looked over her shoulder at Quinn.  “I guess I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”

Quinn hummed and walked forward, stopping beside her.  “And?”

“And I don’t understand the appeal,” Rachel answered.  “It all seems a little pointless to me.”

“I don’t disagree,” Quinn replied.  “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be.  I like the competitions, not cheering at football games for a team that can’t even guard the quarterback.  Not that I don’t enjoy seeing him get hit.”

“I’ve noticed,” Rachel said, raising her eyebrows.  “You didn’t happen to see who did that, did you?”

Quinn shrugged.  “There must have been someone on the field.”

“That’s what I thought, but there was no one out there,” Rachel replied.

Quinn smiled and then nodded toward the concession stand.  “What do you want?”

“What?” Rachel asked.

“Popcorn?” Quinn asked.  “Soda?”

“I was going to see if they had cocoa,” Rachel replied.

“Be right back,” Quinn said.

“Quinn, wait.”

Quinn didn’t wait; she made her way through the crowd, easily passing by everyone until Rachel could no longer see her.  She stood there, looking around, wondering if she should follow her.  A few minutes later, though, just as Rachel decided to go after her, Quinn walked out of the crowd with two drinks in her hands.

“You really didn’t have to do that,” Rachel said when Quinn walked up and handed her one of the drinks.  “How much do I owe you?”

“No need,” Quinn said.  “Cheerios get free concessions.”

“I guess they also don’t have to wait in line,” Rachel remarked.

Quinn smiled.  “Thank Coach Sylvester for that.  One of the girls was late after halftime once because she was waiting in line and Coach Sylvester lost it.  Everyone just lets us go now.”

“That’s—” Rachel shook her head.

“I should go,” Quinn said.  “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah,” Rachel replied.  “Bright and early.”

***

“This says thirty-one people died in the fire,” Rachel said, looking at an old newspaper clipping.  “That’s strange.  Didn’t all the other sources say there were twenty-seven deaths?”

“Maybe it’s a mistake,” Quinn replied.

“Maybe,” Rachel said, frowning.  “It’s weird, though, isn’t it? And this is the oldest source we’ve found.  It’s dated November first, the day after the fire.”

“Maybe they found four of the people alive,” Quinn suggested.

“I suppose that’s possible,” Rachel agreed.

“I’m going to go grab some coffee; do you want any?” Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head.  “No, thank you.”

“I’ll be back,” Quinn said.

Rachel nodded and then looked down to continue reading the article.  There were some other discrepancies—the time the fire started, where it began—but everything else was relatively the same.  Quickly, she wrote a few things down, noting the differences in the story, and then began looking through the rest of the microfilm.  Most of it was much of the same until she reached a newspaper from a few months after the fire that had pictures that she hadn’t seen before.  Pictures from the party, before the fire happened.

“Fabray,” Rachel whispered.

Rachel looked over her shoulder for a moment and then looked back at the picture.  There were four people in it all in costumes.  The headline said that they were Elizabeth Fabray, Charles Pierce, Albert Puckerman, and Ella Hamilton.  Fabray wasn’t exactly a common last name, so she figured this Elizabeth woman had to be some relationship to Quinn.  Also, she was pretty sure Brittany’s last name was Pierce and that there was a Puckerman on the football team.

“Find anything?”

Rachel jumped at the sound of Quinn’s voice.  “Quinn, you scared me!”

“Sorry,” Quinn said.

“Why didn’t you say your great-grandmother was there that night?” Rachel asked.

Rather than responding immediately, Quinn walked up and looked at the picture.  “Great-great-great-grandmother, actually.”

“Someone said your family has been friends with Brittany and Santana’s families for generations.  I guess they were right.  Or at least they were about Brittany’s.  Her last name is Pierce, right?”

“Who told you that?” Quinn asked.

“I don’t really remember,” Rachel lied, not wanting Quinn to think she’d been asking Kurt about her.

Quinn nodded.  “Actually they were right about both.  Ella Hamilton is Santana’s great-great-great-grandmother.  Her grandmother married a Lopez.”

“Were they—did they survive the fire?” Rachel asked.

“Did you see their names on the list of the people who died?” Quinn asked back.

“No,” Rachel said, sure she would have noticed a Fabray on the list.  “Well, that’s good.  I mean, it’s terrible that twenty-seven people died, but you know.”

“Here,” Quinn said, setting a cup down on the table.  “Hot chocolate.”

Rachel couldn’t help smiling.  “Thank you.  You didn’t—”

“Have to,” Quinn finished for her.  “I know.”

Rachel picked up the cup of hot chocolate and walked to the nearest chair.  They had been at the library for a little over two hours, looking at old newspapers and the few books they had on the town’s history.  It was all quite interesting, though she imagined it was a little less interesting to Quinn, who had lived there her whole life and probably knew a lot of what they were reading about.

“Do you think we have enough information to begin writing the report?” Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged and then leaned against the table.  “Maybe.”

“Let me know if you’re tired of being here,” Rachel said.  “I’m sure you have better things to do on a Saturday than to be at the library all day.”

“Is that your way of saying you want to go?” Quinn asked.

Rachel laughed lightly.  “No.  I’m more than okay with spending the day here.”

Other than the report, she’d already done her homework for the weekend.  Considering she was new to town and really only had one friend, she didn’t exactly have a busy social life or anything.  Not that she really had one back in New York, either.  She had a few friends, but no one she really hung out with on the weekend.  Really, they were more school acquaintances than anything, but they were the closest thing she’d had to friends.

“If you’re going to stay here, I’m going to stay as well,” Quinn stated.  “Besides, Brittany and Santana are probably both working on their projects too.” She rolled her eyes. “Hopefully, anyway.  Coach Sylvester won’t be very happy if Brittany fails another assignment.  And hopefully Santana doesn’t threaten her partner this time.”

“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but they seem like unlikely friends for you,” Rachel observed.  “I mean, I know I don’t know them very well, but you all just seem like complete opposites from each other.”

“I’ve known both of them my whole life,” Quinn said.  “I guess when you grow up with someone like that, it’s hard to stop being friends with them.” She shrugged.  “And we probably have a little more in common than you think.”

“You’re right,” Rachel quickly replied.  “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“Relax.” Quinn said as she pushed off the table.  “If you’d offended me, you’d know.”

***

Rachel walked through the school Monday morning with a smile on her face.  She was there earlier than usual, hoping to catch Mr. Schuester before school started.  She had only been in the Glee Club for a week, but she already had a few ideas she wanted to run by the teacher.  While most of her weekend had been spent working on her history project with Quinn, she had spent the majority of Sunday night coming up with ideas for the club, and she was hoping he would be receptive to some of her ideas about improving the club and obtaining more members.

As she walked through the hallway, she saw the Cheerios and the football players coming in through the back of the school.  She knew from Quinn that the cheerleading and the football coaches were both a little intense, making their students come in incredibly early for practice, so she wasn’t surprised to see them there.  She’d actually kind of hoped to run into Quinn, but she didn’t see her as she made her way to the choir room.

“Mr. Schuester?” Rachel said, knocking on the choir room door.

She tried turning the doorknob, but it was locked, so she knocked again.  She’d heard from Kurt that Mr. Schue was almost always there early on Monday morning to plan out their lesson for the week, but he was apparently not early that day.  Or he couldn’t hear her from his office.

She looked down the hallway with a sigh, wondering if she should try stopping by the teacher’s lounge, and then looked over her shoulder when she heard a door slam.  For a moment, she thought it was Mr. Schue leaving the choir room from the other door and she almost called out, but she realized his hair wasn’t curly enough and he was a bit too tall.

Rachel tried knocking once more before slowly walking down the hallway and checking the second door.  The knob turned with ease and she cracked the door open.  The room was dark, though, so she started to close it back, but stopped when she heard a slight scraping sound.

“Hello?” she said, pausing.  “Mr. Schuester?  It’s Rachel Berry.”

Rachel hesitated, knowing she should close the door, but she felt against the wall, trying to find the light switch, nevertheless.  Her hand groped around the wall for a few seconds, finally landing on what she was looking for.  She flipped the switch, filling the room with light, and opened the door a little wider as she walked into the choir room.

“Mr. Sch—” Rachel froze.  “Oh my god.”

There was a trail of blood on the floor, and Rachel tried to avoid slipping in it as she rushed to the boy in the letterman jacket who was lying on the floor.  She didn’t know who he was, but it looked like he had put up a struggle.  Chairs all over the room were overturned, the drum set was on its side, and some of the shelves on the wall were broken.

She was afraid to touch him, reaching out, but quickly pulled her hand back.  She couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not, but judging by the amount of blood around the room, she was afraid she wouldn’t find a pulse.  After a few moments, she finally reached out, putting her fingers to his neck, and feeling for any sign of life.  She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse, though she could tell it was weak, and she knew she needed to get him some help.  She frantically felt around for her phone, but then she remembered it was in her backpack, which she’d put in her locker, not wanting to carry it around with her when she didn’t have to.

“I-I’ll be right back,” Rachel whispered, though she didn’t know if he was even conscious to hear her.

Rachel stood up and ran out of the room, running toward the principal’s office.  As she ran past the guidance counselor’s office, she saw Miss Pillsbury sitting at her desk and skidded to a halt.

“Call 911,” Rachel said, barging into her office.

“Uh, Rachel, what are you—”

“Please, call 911,” Rachel repeated.

“I—” Miss Pillsbury looked alarmed, but picked up her phone and began dialed.  “What’s going on? Is someone hurt?”

“He—”

They both turned toward the window when they heard a tap.  Mr. Schue was standing there with a smile on his face, and he waved to Miss Pillsbury.  Seeing both of their faces, the smile fell off his face and he opened the door, asking, “Everything okay in here?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Miss Pillsbury said.

“One of the football players was attacked,” Rachel explained.  “He’s in the choir room and there’s a lot of blood.  I felt a pulse, but it wasn’t very strong.  He needs help.”

“Get an ambulance here,” Mr. Schue said, looking at Miss Pillsbury.  “Rachel, come with me.”

Rachel nodded and followed the teacher out of the room just as the guidance counselor began talking to the 911 dispatcher.

***

Rachel tried to ignore all the looks she was getting as she walked by.  Ever since word spread that she was the one who found the boy in the choir room—who she had since learned was Noah Puckerman—people were looking at her as if she was the one who did it.  She’d hoped that a little time would make them less interested in her, but it seemed as if word had only spread even more overnight.

Sighing, she put her combination into her lock and pulled the door open.  As she replaced the books in her backpack, she could feel everyone staring at her, and while she normally loved an audience, she really just wanted to disappear.  It was only her third week at McKinley High, and this certainly wasn’t the way she wanted everyone to know her name.

“I don’t think I’ve seen so many people stare at someone since Finn wore a red vinyl dress to school.”

Rachel froze, frowning at Kurt’s words.  “He what?”

“It was Lady Gaga week,” Kurt said as if that explained everything.

Rachel shook her head, trying to get the image out of her head.  “People do seem to be staring quite a bit.” She sighed.  “Have you heard how Noah is doing?”

“As far as I know, he’s still alive but hasn’t woken up,” Kurt replied.

She’d learned from Kurt, who had heard from Finn that he’d had a collapsed lung, multiple broken bones and contusions, and a severe concussion among other things.  Then, of course, there was the stab wound to the upper right side of his chest that had been responsible for most of the blood in the choir room.  The last thing she had heard, he was going to have to have surgery to repair his lung and whatever damage the knife had caused.

“Why does everyone keep looking at me like I was the one who attacked Noah?” Rachel asked, noticing a group of Cheerios looking at her.

“I’m sure they know you’re not the one who did it,” Kurt replied.  “For one, you’re far too small.  You would have to have superhuman strength to do any of that to him.”

Rachel shook her head as she closed her locker door.  “I think I’m going to see if our classroom is already open.”

“I told Mercedes I would find her,” Kurt said.

“It’s fine,” Rachel replied.

Rachel gave Kurt a tight smile and then began walking down hallway.  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see people watching her as she walked by.  Thankfully, though, no one actually said anything to her, so she got to the second floor quickly, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that the door was open.

“What do you want me to do?”

Rachel stopped when she heard Quinn’s voice and took a step back as to not be seen.  Quinn’s voice was raised slightly as if she was arguing with someone, and Rachel wondered who was in the room with her, but her question was quickly answered.

“You’re the one who likes to think you’re the leader,” Santana stated.  “Always telling the rest of us what to do.  Well, leader, Puck’s been attacked and the rest of us are next.”

“You don’t know that,” Quinn replied.

“Like hell I don’t,” Santana said.

“It could just be a coincidence,” Quinn replied.

“Yeah, someone attacks Puck, nearly stabbing him to death,” Santana said.  “I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.”

“There were no markings—”

“Yeah, because that Berry girl probably interrupted it,” Santana said in practically a hiss.

“He could have been there for a while,” Quinn replied.  “You don’t know that Rachel interrupted anything.”

“Why don’t you ask her what she saw?” Brittany asked.

“I’m not going to involve her in this,” Quinn replied.

“Oh please,” Santana said, and Rachel could practically see her rolling her eyes.  “She’s already involved.”

Rachel was frozen to the spot as she listened to the three Cheerios talking.  She didn’t know why Puck’s attack had left Santana quite so rattled, but she obviously seemed to think the rest of them were in danger.  From what, though, Rachel had no idea.  Were they involved in something they shouldn’t be?  She couldn’t imagine Quinn being involved in any illicit activity.

“I know we need to find out what happened, but there’s only one person who knows the answer to that, and that’s Puck,” Quinn said.

“Well, it’s going to be hard to get any information out of him when he’s in a coma,” Santana retorted.

“We’re not talking about this anymore,” Quinn said.

“And who are you to decide that?” Santana asked.

“Do you really want to do this again?” Quinn asked back.

Rachel expected Santana to argue some more, but she remained quiet, leaving Rachel to wonder just what they were talking about.

***

“Puckerman,” Rachel repeated.  “Noah Puckerman.”

“They won’t let anyone see him.”

Rachel looked to her right to find Quinn walking toward her.  “Oh.”

She’d really hoped to see Puck.  She didn’t even really know why she was there—she’d never actually spoken to him before—but she kept feeling like she should visit the hospital.

“Well, then, I suppose I should go,” Rachel said.

“Wait,” Quinn said, stopping her as she turned around.  “Let me walk you to your car.”

“That’s alright,” Rachel replied.

Rachel took a few steps down the hall but stopped.  She couldn’t seem to get what she’d heard Quinn, Santana, and Brittany out of her mind.   She figured there must be an innocent explanation for it, but she couldn’t exactly ask because then Quinn would know she had been eavesdropping on them.

“How well do you know Noah?” Rachel asked, turning around to face Quinn again.

Quinn shrugged.  “Our families are friends.”

Rachel nodded.  “But you and he aren’t close?”

“Not especially,” Quinn answered.  “I guess we’re friends, but we don’t really have that much in common, so we don’t exactly hang out with each other.”

“Do you know why anyone would want to hurt him?” Rachel asked.

“I can think of several reasons,” Quinn replied.  “Puck doesn’t exactly care to sleep with women, including ones with husbands.  If you’re asking if I know why it happened, though, I don’t.” She paused for a moment.  “Can I at least walk you to the lobby?”

Rachel nodded.  “Okay.”

“So, how long did the police question you?” Quinn asked as they began walking toward the elevator.

“A few hours,” Rachel answered.  “I don’t really know what they thought I could tell them.”

“Is it true that you may have seen the person who did it?” Quinn asked.

“It’s possibly,” Rachel replied.  “Although, it could have just been a teacher leaving the next room.  I wasn’t looking that way; I just heard a door close, and when I looked, someone was walking down the hall.  At first I thought it was Mr. Schue, who I was actually looking for, but he was taller and his hair was straighter.”

“I guess it’s a good thing you were looking for him.” Quinn said.  “Who knows how long it would have taken someone to find him.”

Rachel sighed.  “I just wish I had gotten there a little earlier.  Maybe I could have stopped it from happening.”

“Or maybe you just would have gotten hurt as well,” Quinn said.

Rachel glanced at Quinn as she hit the down button for the elevator.  “Do you think something like this is going to happen again?”

“I hope not,” Quinn replied.

“Do you know why he would be attacked at school?” Rachel wondered.

Quinn shook her head.  “I have no idea.”

They fell silent as the elevator doors opened and they stepped in.  Quinn hit the button for the lobby and the elevator began to descend.  Rachel glanced at Quinn, wondering if she should just ask her what she’d overheard, but she remained quiet until the doors opened again and they stepped off the elevator.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Quinn,” Rachel said.

Quinn nodded.  “See you, Rachel.”

Rachel took a deep breath as she walked out of the hospital and into the crisp air.  It was as if she could feel how tense Quinn had been and it was making her feel the same way.  As she walked to her car, though, she tried to put it all out of her mind.  She still had part of their history project to work on, and she didn’t need to be thinking about other things at the moment since it was due the next day.

As she pulled out her keys and put it in the lock, she saw a shadow pass over the car door.  Before she could turn to check who it was, the person had grabbed her.  She tried to scream, but a hand quickly covered her face and muffled the noise.   She kicked and struggled to free herself, but whoever had her was too strong.  Her feet were lifted completely off the ground and she was being shoved into a nearby black van.  Just as she was thrown into the vehicle, though, Rachel saw a flash of blue light and she heard the man yell out in pain.

When Rachel turned to look, the man who had grabbed her was running toward Quinn but was knocked backward when what looked like a ball of blue light hit him in the chest.  A ball of light that seemed to be coming out of Quinn’s hands.  He scrambled away as another ball of light came toward him, running off so Rachel could no longer see him.

“Come on,” Quinn said, walking over to the van, and holding her hand out.

“Wh-what was that?” Rachel asked.

“Get out of the van, Rachel,” Quinn demanded, and Rachel didn’t try arguing with her.


	4. Revelations

**Chapter 4 – Revelations**

“What is going on, Quinn?” Rachel asked as she climbed out of the van.

“Nothing,” Quinn replied.  “Get in your car.”

“That wasn’t nothing,” Rachel argued

“Go home, Rachel,” Quinn demanded.

Rachel could feel the energy radiating off of Quinn, and for the first time, she could understand why so many people seemed to be intimated by her.  Rachel wasn’t the type to back down, though; she wanted an explanation for what she had just witnessed and for why someone had just tried to abduct her.

“Not until you tell me why I was attacked,” Rachel said, standing her ground.  “And—and what you just did.”

“Rachel—”

“I’m not going anywhere, Quinn!” Rachel interrupted.

Quinn huffed, looking angry, but Rachel didn’t flinch.  She was confident Quinn wouldn’t actually hurt her even if she seemed more than a little frustrated with her at the moment.

“I need to go talk to Santana and Brittany,” Quinn stated.  “Go home.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rachel shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.  “I’m coming with you.”

“You’re not coming with me,” Quinn said, sounding exasperated.

“And what if I’m attacked again on my way home?” Rachel asked.

Quinn looked away, clearly debating what she had said.  Rachel didn’t really think she would be attacked again, but she didn’t exactly foresee being attacked the first time, either.  She couldn’t help wondering if this all had something to do with Puck.  Was she nearly abducted because she had been the one to find him or was it just a coincidence?  Given what she overheard Quinn and her friends discussing, she figured they were the only ones who could tell her the answers to her questions.

“I’m not going home,” Rachel firmly said.  “You’re going to take me with you and you’re going to tell me what is going on.

“Come on,” Quinn replied after hesitating a few moments.

Quinn began walking and Rachel quickly followed her.  As they walked across the parking lot, Rachel glanced over her shoulder for any sign of the man that had grabbed her, but the only people she saw were an elderly couple, a woman with a young child, and a middle aged woman with a cast on her arm.

“Do you know who that man was?” Rachel asked.

“No,” Quinn replied.

“Do you know what he wanted with me?” Rachel wondered.

“No,” Quinn repeated.

She noticed that Quinn was constantly looking around the parking lot, and Rachel wondered if she thought something was going to happen again.  She also wondered if Quinn was telling the truth about not knowing who the man was and why he attacked her.

“But you do know that something is going on, don’t you?” Rachel asked after a few moments.  “Or at least Santana thinks so.”

“How do you know what Santana thinks?” Quinn asked.

“Because I overheard you talking with her and Brittany,” Rachel said, figuring there was no point in hiding it now.  “She thought he was just the first and that you guys would be next.”

Quinn scowled at her.  “Why the hell were you listening to us?”

“In my defense, you really shouldn’t use a classroom with the door wide open if you wished to not be overheard,” Rachel said.  “I was just coming to class.”

“So you just stood out there and eavesdropped?” Quinn replied.

“Well, Santana sounded angry, so I didn’t think I should enter the room,” Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything else as they reached her car.  The closer she got, the more she slowed down, looking around the car and even through the windows before unlocking the doors.

“Where are we going?” Rachel asked.

“Santana’s,” Quinn replied.  “Brittany’s usually over there.”

Rachel nodded as Quinn started the car and quickly pulled out of the parking spot.

***

“What the hell is she doing here?” Santana asked.

Quinn walked past Santana without answering and Rachel followed, looking down.  She didn’t think Quinn would ever hurt her, but she didn’t know if she could say the same thing for Santana, so she avoided her eyes and stuck close to Quinn as she followed her through the house.

“Why don’t you come in?” Santana sarcastically asked.

“We need to talk,” Quinn said as she walked into what Rachel could only assume was Santana’s bedroom.

“What are you doing here?” Brittany asked.  “Is Puck okay?”

“I don’t know,” Quinn said, shaking her head.

“I thought you were gonna stay there tonight,” Brittany replied.

“Gabriel is watching him,” Quinn replied.  “He said Puck’s going to have police protection for a few days as a precaution.”

“Is that what you came here to tell us, because you coulda done that over the phone,” Santana said.

“Not to interrupt, but are you ever going to tell me what is going on?” Rachel asked.  “I think I’ve been fairly patient.  Why was I nearly kidnapped tonight?”

Santana looked at Rachel and then looked at Quinn.  “What?”

Quinn sighed.  “A man grabbed Rachel in the hospital parking lot.  He tried to throw her in a van.” She glanced at Rachel.  “She saw me use my powers.”

“Great, Q,” Santana said, throwing her hands up.  “What the hell have you told her?”

“Nothing,” Quinn replied.  “Yet.”

“You are not telling her anything,” Santana said in a threatening tone.

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.  Santana and Quinn both ignored it, but Brittany looked at her giving her a sympathetic smile.

“She already knows more than you think,” Quinn replied.

“She doesn’t know anything, and it’s going to stay that way,” Santana said.

“I’m right here!” Rachel said.  “I would appreciate it if you would stop talking about me as if I’m not in the room.  Now, tell me what happened tonight.”

“The report we’ve been writing,” Quinn said, and Rachel knew she was talking to her even though she was looking at Santana.  “The fire.  The discrepancy in how many people died.”

Santana shook her head.  “It’s your funeral.”

“What about the fire?” Rachel asked.

“Our great-great-great grandparents, the ones in the picture you found—they were other four people who died,” Quinn said.  “They were witches and some hunters killed a lot people just to get to them.”

“Witches,” Rachel repeated.  “Does that mean—is that what I saw tonight?”

“The four of us—me, Santana, Brittany, and Puck—all have powers,” Quinn stated.  “We got them when we were twelve.  That’s what the hunters didn’t realize back then.  The four who didn’t have powers anymore; their children did.  They’re passed on from parent to child.  I got them from my father, Santana and Brittany from her moms, and Puck from his dad, “

“I guess they realize it now,” Santana replied.

“So, that’s why Puck was attacked,” Rachel said.

“If we die and we still have them, they won’t pass on to anyone,” Quinn said.  “The family line will die out.  That’s what they want, and that’s what they thought happened a hundred years ago, but somehow they’ve realized that wasn’t the case.”

“What kind of powers do you have?” Rachel asked.

“We can do different things,” Brittany answered.

“They’re based on the elements,” Quinn explained.  “Water for me, Brittany is air, Puck is earth, and Santana is fire.”

Rachel felt like she needed to sit down, but the only place was on Santana’s bed, and she didn’t think the other girl would appreciate it very much, so she remained standing.

“Okay, so, I know why Noah was attacked, but why was I attacked?” Rachel asked.  “Why did that man try to abduct me?”

“You were at the hospital, right?” Brittany asked.  “Maybe he thought you were one of us since you were there.”

“Does that mean more people are going to come after me?” Rachel asked.

“Maybe,” Quinn answered, looking at Rachel, and then glanced at Brittany and Santana.  “They’re definitely going to come after me; I used my powers on the guy and he ran off.”

“That’s just perfect,” Santana said.  “Why didn’t you just paint a fucking bullseye on your back?”

“What was I going to do?” Quinn asked, her voice rising.  “Was I supposed to just let him take Rachel?”

“Yes, because now you’ve put us all in danger just because you have some crush on the hobbit.” Santana replied.

“She couldn’t just let them take her,” Brittany said.  “They would have hurt her.”

“It isn’t as if they wouldn’t have figured it out sooner or later,” Quinn added.  “They found Puck; they would have found me eventually.  Just don’t go to the hospital.  Either of you.  They’ll only be looking for one other person if they think Rachel is one of us.”

“And what happens if they grab her again?” Santana asked, motioning toward Rachel.  “Now she can tell them everything.”

“Then we’re going to have to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Quinn replied.

***

As soon as Rachel stepped out of her father’s car the next morning, Brittany was by her side.  She was apparently under strict orders not to let her leave her side, though Rachel thought that was going a little overboard.  And as if she hadn’t received enough strange looks since Monday, now people were looking at her even more curiously, and she knew it was because Brittany was walking with her through the hallway.

“You know, you really don’t have to follow me everywhere,” Rachel said, glancing at Brittany, who was leaning against the locker next to hers.

Brittany shrugged.  “Quinn told me to.”

“I’m sure she did, but what if someone is watching?” Rachel asked.  “Won’t that put you in danger?”

“It’s not a big school,” Brittany replied.  “We’d know if someone didn’t belong here.  And Quinn would be here, but Coach Sylvester wanted to see her and San.”

Rachel didn’t argue even though she really did think it was a little unnecessary.  There were plenty of people around; it wasn’t as if she would be attacked with so many people to witness it.

She was still trying to get her head around everything she had been told.  Even though she had personally seen Quinn use her powers, it still seemed unbelievable.  At the same time, though, she didn’t doubt that Quinn was telling the truth.  It was just hard when you think the world is one way, but then you find out something entirely different.  Rachel was never one to believe in aliens or ghosts or people with supernatural abilities, but now she’d found out she was wrong about at least one of those things and it made her wonder what else was out there that she didn’t know about.

“Santana doesn’t really think Quinn shouldn’t have saved you.”

Rachel glanced at Brittany.  “Are you sure about that?”

Brittany nodded.  “She’s just scared that something is going to happen to us.”

“Can I ask you a question?” Rachel asked, looking around to make sure there was no one eavesdropping on them.

Brittany shrugged. “What?”

“What kind of powers do you have?” Rachel whispered.  “I know they’re based on the elements, but what exactly does that mean?”

“I don’t think San would be very happy if I told you that,” Brittany said, frowning.

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Rachel promised.  “Even if I was captured, I still wouldn’t tell.  I wouldn’t endanger you guys like that.”

Brittany hesitated for a moment, but then said, “We can do different things.  We can all cast—I call it an energy ball.  But most of the other things we can do are different.  San can do things like starting fires or making things hot.  Puck can make the ground shake and bend metals with his mind.”

“And you and Quinn?” Rachel wondered.

“I can make it really windy,” Brittany answered.  “Like, windy enough to knock you down.  Or make all the air go out of a room.  Quinn can’t really make water, but she can pull it out of the air, so it looks like it comes out of nowhere.  Then she can turn it into ice or whatever else she wants to do with it.  There are other things, but that’s kinda the basics.”

Rachel nodded and then gave Brittany a smile.  “Thank you for telling me.”

She meant it when she told Brittany she wouldn’t tell anyone.  Even if she did get captured by the people looking for Quinn and her friends, she would trade her life in for the lives of four people.  She didn’t want anything to happen to her, but she also didn’t want anything to happen to them.  And if Quinn trusted her enough to tell her the truth, she wasn’t going to betray her.

“Rachel,” Kurt said, inclining his head toward her, and then looking at Brittany for a moment before looking back at her.  “Weren’t we supposed to meet this morning in the auditorium?”

“I’m so sorry, Kurt,” Rachel said with a sigh.  “I completely forgot about it.”

“How could you forget about it?” Kurt asked.  “It was your idea.”

“I know.” Rachel sighed as she closed her locker.  “I’ve just had a lot on my mind this morning,”

She felt bad that she had stood Kurt up, but it had completely slipped her mind.  Given everything that was going on, though, she thought it was understandable.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t exactly tell Kurt that.

“So, what was so important that you stood me up?” Kurt asked.

Rachel glanced at Brittany.  “I was—almost in an accident last night.  I was in a parking lot and someone came millimeters away from hitting me with their car.”

It was a lie, but it was the only thing she could think of to tell him.  If she’d told him she was nearly kidnapped by a masked man, he would have wondered if she had called the police and she was sure half the school would have heard about it before lunchtime.

“Can we do it tomorrow morning?” Rachel asked.

“Will you actually be there?” Kurt asked back.

Rachel nodded.  “I promise I will be there.”

***

Quinn was waiting at the back of the auditorium when Mr. Schue dismissed the students.  The choir room was still blocked off for the police investigation, so Glee meetings had been moved to the auditorium for the time being, which Rachel didn’t mind one bit.  She preferred performing on an actual stage anyway.  Plus, she didn’t know how comfortable she would be in the choir room considering what it looked like the last time she walked into it.

“I didn’t know you could sing like that,” Quinn commented as she approached.

Rachel couldn’t help but smile.  “I told you I wanted to be on Broadway.”

“I know, but—” Quinn shook her head.  “Do you need to stop by your locker?”

“No, I have everything I need,” Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded and Rachel followed behind her as they made their way to the parking lot.  It had begun raining again, but Rachel wasn’t really surprised.  It had been cloudy all day and the weatherman had said to expect rain for the next four days.  Unfortunately, her umbrella was in her car, which was still sitting in the parking lot at the hospital, so they both made a mad dash toward Quinn’s car, trying not to get completely soaked.

“Since you can control water, does that mean you can stop it from raining so much?” Rachel wondered as she closed the car door, drops of water dripping from her hair.

Quinn laughed.  “No.  I’m not that powerful.”

“Too bad,” Rachel said, putting on her seat belt, and sitting back.  “It would certainly be a nice power to have.

Quinn hummed as she started the car, and Rachel glanced at her.  Quinn had taken over for Brittany as soon as she’d walked into their first period classroom that morning, and she hadn’t been out of her sight since.  She didn’t stick to her like Brittany did, but Rachel knew she was always watching her unless they were in different classes.  Even then, the moment Rachel got out of class, Quinn seemed to be right there waiting on her.  She had to wonder if Quinn had even gone to any of her classes that day or if she was just very talented at getting there quickly.

“Could you drive me to the hospital?” Rachel asked when Quinn pulled up to the exit the parking lot.  “I still need to pick up my car.”

“Yeah, but I’m still following you home,” Quinn replied.

Rachel nodded, knowing there was no point in arguing with her.  If she’d learned one thing about Quinn that day it was that she was incredibly stubborn.  She’d told her multiple times that she didn’t need a bodyguard, but Quinn refused to listen to her.  Maybe if she was out in a dark parking lot again she may need it, but she doubted they would try again in broad daylight.

“May I ask you a question?” Rachel asked.

“If I said no, would it stop you?” Quinn asked.

“No.” Rachel smiled.  “You said you received your powers when you were twelve, right?”

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.

“What happens if a witch has more than one child?” Rachel wondered.  “Does it go to both of them when they turn twelve?”

Quinn shook her head.  “The oldest gets it.”

“But I thought you had an older sister,” Rachel said, furrowing her brows in confusion.

“I do,” Quinn replied.  “That’s how my dad found out my mom had cheated on him.  Frannie isn’t his.”

“Oh,” Rachel said, frowning.  “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“It’s not like you could have known,” Quinn said with a shrug.  “The only people who know are the other three and their families.”

“Is there something you call yourselves?” Rachel asked.

“Not really,” Quinn replied, and Rachel noticed a small smile appear on her face.

“Can you show me something you can do?” Rachel asked.

Quinn glanced at her and then looked down at the bottle of water sitting in the cup holder.  Rachel wondered what she was going to do with it, but then Quinn reached down and touched it, her hand glowing faintly.  When she put her hand back on the wheel, Rachel picked the bottle up to find the water inside was frozen solid.  Not only was it frozen, but Quinn had swirled it in the bottle so it was frozen in a spiral.

“Do you use your powers a lot?” Rachel asked as she slowly spun the bottle in her hands.

“Some,” Quinn replied.  “When I want to.”

Rachel nodded.  “Like when you want to make a football hit someone.”

“That was Brittany, actually,” Quinn replied, smiling.

Rachel shook her head but was smiling, nonetheless.  She continued looking at the bottle until Quinn pulled into the hospital parking lot and she reluctantly put it down.

“May I ask you one more thing?” Rachel asked as she took off her seat belt, and Quinn nodded.  “Why did Santana say you have a crush on me?

Quinn sighed, closing her eyes for a few moments.  “Because she likes to be a bitch.”

“So, it’s not true?” Rachel asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Quinn softly replied.

Rachel could just hear her over the sound of the rain on the roof, but she had no doubt that she had heard her correctly.  She had been drawn to Quinn since the moment she had seen her, and she couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face.  Without really thinking about it. she leaned forward and brought their lips together.  She could tell Quinn was surprised, tensing the moment their lips touched, but she quickly relaxed and kissed her back.  And when Rachel finally pulled away a few moments later, Quinn had a slightly dazed look about her.

“Thank you for the ride, Quinn,” Rachel said, smiling at her.

***

As Rachel pulled into her driveway, she glanced in her rear-view mirror to see if Quinn was still following her.  She wasn’t surprised to see her pull in right behind her and she smiled when Quinn quickly got out of her car.  While she didn’t know if it was entirely necessary, she appreciated that Quinn was so concerned about her wellbeing.

“You’re not going to inspect my house for intruders are you?” Rachel teased as she opened her door and stepped out.

“I may,” Quinn replied.  “Are your fathers home?”

Rachel shook her head.  “They’ll be home soon, though.”

Rachel locked eyes with Quinn for a moment and then quickly turned to grab her backpack out of the back seat.  She hadn’t planned on kissing Quinn as they sat in the parking lot of the hospital, and now that she had the drive home to think about it, she was a little embarrassed.  She wasn’t really sure what had come over her; she just knew she had felt some sort of connection to Quinn from the moment their paths crossed.

“How soon?” Quinn asked.

“I imagine Dad will be here any moment,” Rachel replied, shouldering her backpack.  “I’ll be fine, Quinn.  I promise.  I’ll even turn the alarm on until one of my fathers get here if it will make you feel better.”

Rachel knew she should be more concerned about her safety, but she was honestly more concerned about Quinn and her friends.  Even if they did manage to abduct her, she figured they would quickly realize she wasn’t a witch.  And since she had only been in Lima for less than a month, she hoped she could convince them that she had no knowledge of what they wanted to know.  Quinn, on the other hand, had used her powers in front of one of them, so she had no way of pretending they had the wrong person, which is what scared Rachel.

“There’s one of my fathers right now,” Rachel said, seeing his grey Lexus coming down the street.”

“Good,” Quinn replied as she and Rachel began walking toward the front door.

“I was thinking about something and I thought I would run it by you,” Rachel said.  “Have you ever thought about joining the Glee Club?  I mean, if you’re going to have to attend Glee Club meetings because of me, maybe you could just join us.”

Quinn’s eyebrow rose.  “You want me to join Glee?”

“I’m just saying it’s an option,” Rachel replied.  “You know, so people don’t start asking why you’re there.  You could be undercover.”

“I’ll think about it,” Quinn said, looking amused.

“Good,” Rachel said, smiling.

Rachel watched as her father pulled into the driveway and she gave him a wave.  As he stepped out of the car, she noticed his eyes immediately go to Quinn.

“Dad, this is Quinn Fabray,” Rachel introduced as he approached.  “We go to school together.”

“Hello,” Hiram said, stopping and looking at Quinn for a moment before looking at Rachel.

He walked past without saying anything else and Rachel frowned.  She hadn’t brought a lot of friends home, but he had always been friendly before when she had.  She knew her fathers had always been concerned about how she fit in at school, and she thought he would be happy to see that she was making friends, but he almost looked angry.

“I think he likes me,” Quinn quipped.

“I’m sorry about that,” Rachel said.  “I can only assume he had a tough day at work.  I can assure you he is normally very friendly.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Quinn replied.

Rachel nodded.  “Would you like to come in?”

“Santana and Brittany are supposed to meet me at my house,” Quinn said, shaking her head.  “I told them I would be there as soon as I got you home.”

“Well, then, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Rachel said, giving Quinn a smile.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.  “Listen, don’t go anywhere alone tonight.  If you’re going to go somewhere, call me and I’ll go with you.”

“Do you really think someone is going to try to abduct me again?” Rachel wondered.

“Yes,” Quinn replied.  “I don’t think they’ll stop until they kill us all or we stop them.”

Rachel shook her head.  “I don’t understand why they feel like they need to harm you guys.  It isn’t as if you’ve done anything bad.”

“You know how people are,” Quinn replied.  “They hate things they don’t understand.”

“It’s a shame,” Rachel remarked.

“Yeah, it is,” Quinn agreed.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Quinn,” Rachel said.  “Have a good evening.”

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.  “You too.”


	5. What’s Happening?

**Chapter 5 – What’s Happening?**

The moment Rachel stepped out of her car, Santana grabbed her arm and began roughly pulling her.  She let out a squeak of protest and barely had a chance to close her door before Santana started tugging her toward the school.

“What are you doing?” Rachel asked, nearly stumbling.

“We need to talk,” Santana replied.

“My bag is in the car,” Rachel protested, trying to pull her arm out of Santana’s grip.

“You can get it later,” Santana said, holding even tighter onto Rachel’s arm.

Rachel had no idea what she’d done to upset Santana so much, but the other girl looked pissed off.  She looked so pissed off that Rachel stopped struggling, afraid of what Santana may do if she continued to.

“I can walk on my own if you would tell me where we’re going,” Rachel said.  “All you had to do was ask to speak with me and I would be happy to do it.  You really don’t need to manhandle me.”

Rachel sighed when Santana didn’t release her or respond in any way.  She really didn’t have any idea what she had done to anger Santana.  Of course, Santana seemed like the type to be very volatile, so maybe there was no real reason other than that she just didn’t seem to like her very much.

Rather than going in through the front door, Santana pulled her around the side of the building.  For a moment, she thought they were going to go toward the football field, but then she veered off, pulling Rachel through one of the side doors and into a hallway Rachel had never been in before.  She knew it was where the locker rooms were, though, because Kurt had told her to avoid it at all costs if she didn’t want to end up covered in slushy.

Santana tried turning to doorknob to one of rooms but it appeared to be locked.  Glancing both ways, Santana put her hand over the lock for a moment and then tried to knob again.  This time, it turned, and Santana pulled Rachel into the classroom, which looked like it wasn’t in use and had been turned into a makeshift storage area.

“Why did you really come here?” Santana asked, releasing her so roughly that Rachel knocked into one of the desks.

Rachel frowned.  “My father’s company asked him to move here to run the new plant they are building.”

“I asked why you really came here,” Santana said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“That is why we moved here,” Rachel replied. 

“Just like that?” Santana asked.

“The guy who was overseeing everything decided he didn’t wish to work for them anymore, so they needed someone else quickly,” Rachel said.  “What is all of this about?”

“For over a hundred years, no one has tried to kill any of us, and then as soon as you come, Puck’s attacked,” Santana stated, walking toward Rachel.  “Is that why you’re here?  You thought you’d get close to Quinn and then go tell your fathers everything about us?  Did you see Puck using his powers and then run off to your fathers or are you the one that did that to him?”

With every step Santana took, Rachel slowly backed up.  She glanced over her shoulder when she bumped into something and saw that she was up against a filing cabinet with nowhere left to go.

“Quinn may think you’re innocent, but you’re not fooling me,” Santana said, putting her hand next to Rachel’s head.

Rachel jumping away from the filing cabinet when she felt it getting warm behind her head.  Her eyes widened when she saw the metal had melted beneath Santana’s hand.

“Santana, stop.”

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Quinn’s voice.  Santana still looked angry, but she seemed to back down a bit, and Rachel remembered what she had said about Quinn thinking she was the leader.

“What is going on?” Rachel asked.  “Why does Santana seem to think I had something to do with the attack?”

“I made the mistake of telling her about your father’s weird reaction to me yesterday,” Quinn replied.  “So she jumped to the conclusion that he must be one of the witch hunters.  I didn’t expect her to be stupid enough to come after you.”

“And you’re too stupid to see what’s going on,” Santana said.  “She wasn’t grabbed because they thought she was a witch; she was grabbed because they wanted proof that you were.  She’s their bait and you can’t see it because you’re too busy staring at her ass.”

Rachel blushed slightly at Santana’s words.

“Don’t touch her ever again,” Quinn demanded.

Santana rolled her eyes as she began walking toward the door.  “If anything happens to Britts, I will end you.”

***

Rachel absentmindedly picked at her salad with her fork, trying not to look across the cafeteria at Quinn.  She was afraid the blonde would begin to believe what Santana had said the previous day, and she felt nauseated just thinking about it.  She promised Quinn that it wasn’t true and Quinn had told her not to worry about it, but she was afraid she didn’t really believe her.

“Where is everyone?”

“What?” Rachel asked as she looked up at Quinn.

“You usually sit with people,” Quinn replied.

“Oh,” Rachel said.  “Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes are rehearsing in the auditorium and I don’t know where Artie is.”

“Do you mind if I sit?” Quinn asked.

“No, of course not!” Rachel quickly replied.

Rachel looked across the room at Santana, but hurriedly looked away when she looked her way.  She knew Santana was refusing to watch after her and had told Brittany to stay away from her as well, though Brittany had still met her in the parking lot that morning.  Rachel wasn’t really surprised and she didn’t even blame her.  If she was in her position and thought the person they were watching was being used as bait then she wouldn’t want to do it, either.  She just wished Santana would believe her.

“She’s stubborn,” Quinn said.

“Who is?” Rachel asked.

“Santana,” Quinn replied.  “Ignore her.”

Rachel smiled sadly.  “I’m afraid to say I’m not very good at leaving things alone when I think someone is upset with me in any way.”

“It’s my fault,” Quinn said.  “I shouldn’t have said anything to her.”

“Do you—think that’s why my fathers and I are here?” Rachel asked.

Quinn paused for a moment but then shook her head.  “I don’t think you would do that, and if you say your fathers aren’t involved, then I trust you.”

“Why?” Rachel wondered.  “Why do you trust me?  I’m not exactly complaining; I’m just curious.”

“I don’t know,” Quinn said, giving her a small smile.  “I don’t trust a lot of people.  The only people I really trust are the other three, and I trust my parents not to tell anyone about me, but that’s only because I know they wouldn’t want to end our line.” Quinn looked down. “I don’t really know why I feel like I can trust you; it’s just a feeling, I guess.”

Rachel couldn’t help smiling; it was a relief to hear that Quinn trusted her.  She wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t since they had only known each other for several weeks, but it still would have hurt.  She liked Quinn—more than she really cared to admit—and it felt nice to know she believed her.

“What are you doing tonight?” Quinn asked.

Rachel shrugged.  “Homework.  My fathers have one of their date nights tonight, so I’ll have the house all to myself.  And before you start worrying about me, I’ll have the alarm on, and the police are just a phone call away.”

“I’m not going to let you stay home alone all night,” Quinn said, shaking her head.  “Come to the game tonight.  You’ll be safe there in the crowd and I’ll be able to watch you.”

“I can’t exactly do homework at a football game,” Rachel replied.

“No, but you can watch the game,” Quinn said.  “Or the Cheerios.  Whichever you prefer.”

Rachel ducked her head.  “Okay.  I’ll come to the football game, but I am going to sit in the quietest section and attempt to get some of my homework done.”

“You know you have all weekend, right?” Quinn asked.

“I know, but I hate waiting until the last minute,” Rachel replied.  “I like to get it done early so I can enjoy the rest of my weekend.  Not that I really have plans or anything, but you never know when something is going to come up.”  Rachel cleared her throat.  “So, um, have you heard anything about Puck?  You haven’t mentioned him today.”

“His mom called last night,” Quinn replied.  “His vitals are looking good, and she thinks he’s going to wake up soon.”

“I’m really sorry, Quinn,” Rachel said.  “I don’t think I’ve told you that since I found out he was a friend.  I really hope everything is okay with him.”

“Thanks,” Quinn replied.  “I just wish I knew why they went after him.”

“I know,” Rachel said.  “I’ve wondered about that as well.  I’ve actually been thinking about him a lot since I found him.  Even more since I found out about everything.  Hopefully he’ll be able to shed some light on it when he wakes up.”

Quinn nodded.  “I have a Cheerios meeting right after school.  Can you wait for me?”

“You know—”

“Don’t tell me I don’t have to follow you home,” Quinn interrupted

“Then yes, I can wait on you,” Rachel replied.

“Good,” Quinn said just as the bell rang.  “Brittany’s going to walk you to class.”

“Will I see you after fourth period?” Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded.  “I’ll be there.”

***

Rachel closed her math book when she saw there was less than a minute left in the game.  She hadn’t gotten a lot of work done, but a little was better than none.  She’d found it very difficult to concentrate when people were constantly screaming, not to mention the fact that Quinn was there cheering, and sometimes it was hard not to watch her.

It was weird to think how much things had changed just in the past week.  Considering how high strung she could be, she felt like she should be more freaked out than she was, but she was actually quite calm about the whole situation.  Maybe if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed everything so easily, but she didn’t doubt anything Quinn had told her and she didn’t believe Quinn would let any harm come to her.

When the game finally game to an end, Rachel grabbed her bag and tried to beat everyone else down the bleachers.  A lot of other people seemed to have the same idea, though, and Rachel got stuck behind a bunch of slow moving people.  As she stood there waiting for everyone else to move, she glanced toward the field and saw that Quinn was talking to the cheerleading coach.  She was much too far away to hear what they were talking about, but she could tell the blonde wasn’t very happy about whatever the older woman was saying.

“Hudson! Where are you going?”

The football coach’s voice could be heard over the crowd, and Rachel wondered what she was yelling about now.  She had been screaming at the team all game about things Rachel didn’t really understand. Not that it had done any good; without Puck there, the only person who scored in the last game, McKinley had gotten crushed by the other team.

“Get in the locker room with now!” the coach yelled.

Rachel saw Finn hold his hand up, telling her he’d been there in a minute, and then she sighed when he looked toward her.

“Hey, Rachel, can I talk to you a sec?” Finn asked as Rachel finally made her way to the bottom of the bleachers.

“Finn—”

“I just wanted to see if maybe you’d wanna go out to eat after the game,” Finn said before Rachel could say anything.

“Actually, I’m supposed to meet Quinn right now,” Rachel replied.

“Well, what about tomorrow?” Finn asked.

“Look, Finn, I appreciate the invitation, but I’m interested in someone else,” Rachel said, not wanting to beat around the bush.

Finn frowned.  “It’s not Kurt is it?”

Rachel couldn’t help laughing.  “No, it’s not Kurt.”

“Then who?” Finn asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” Rachel replied.  “Who it is isn’t going to change my answer, which is still no thank you.  Have a good evening, Finn.”

Rachel turned and began walking before Finn could say anything else.  She’d hoped he would take a hint that she wasn’t interested, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen, so she figured being direct would be better.  She didn’t want to hurt his feelings—he seemed like a nice enough guy—but it was hard to be interested in anyone else with Quinn around.

“What did Finn want?” Quinn asked when Rachel approached her.

“He wanted me to go to dinner with him this evening, but I told him I had other plans and was actually interested in someone else,” Rachel replied.  “Although, dinner doesn’t sound like a bad idea right now.  I’m quite hungry.  What do you say?”

“I don’t know,” Quinn said, sounding apprehensive.

“I was under the impression that you didn’t want me going places alone,” Rachel remarked. “But I suppose I could go to dinner by myself.  I’m sure I’ll be perfectly safe.”

Quinn sighed, narrowing her eyes at Rachel, who did her best to hide her smile.  “Fine, we can go to dinner.”

“Wonderful!” Rachel replied.

Rachel was no longer able to contain her smile.  She knew it wasn’t exactly a date and she wished Quinn was a little more enthusiastic about it, but it was a start.  It was certainly better than going to dinner with Finn.  She knew from Glee that he wasn’t much of a conversationalist, and every time she talked to him it felt forced.  Quinn, on the other hand, she felt like she had known for years, and things just felt natural with her.

“Do you have any recommendations?” Rachel asked.

“There really aren’t a lot of options around here,” Quinn replied.  “But I know a good place.”

“Well, then, after you,” Rachel said, motioning for Quinn to go on.

***

“I think we’re safe here,” Rachel said when noticed Quinn looking around the restaurant.  “We’re in a very public place.”

“You don’t know what these people are like, Rachel,” Quinn replied.  “I’ve been warned about them my whole life.  My father’s told me stories about what they did to everyone in 1908 that he learned from his mother.  It’s one of those things that have been passed from generation to generation, warning everyone what could happen if they ever found us again.  And now they’re here.”

“Are there a lot of them?” Rachel wondered.

“We don’t really know,” Quinn replied.  “But even if there’s only one, they’re dangerous.  Look what they did to Puck.”

“Can a witch be killed the same way as anyone else?” Rachel asked.  “Or does it have to be something specific like a vampire can only be killed in certain ways.”

“Anything that can kill you can kill me,” Quinn replied.  “We’re just a little better at avoiding it usually.”

“Why do you think they were able to find you guys now?” Rachel wondered.  “I know Santana’s theory, but what do you think?”

Quinn shrugged.  “I don’t really know.  My guess is they somehow figured out that killing everyone years ago didn’t end the family line.  So now they’re here to try again.”

“I really don’t understand why they’re after any of you,” Rachel said, shaking her head.  “Then again, I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised.  Look at all the senseless killing that’s happened over the centuries.  People always try to justify killing people who are different than them, whether it’s their religion or their sexuality or the color of their skin.  Or—other things.”

“I just hope things aren’t as bad as last time,” Quinn remarked.

“Last time?” Rachel asked.

“The fire,” Quinn replied.  “Thirty-one people died just so they could kill four of them.”

“So they don’t care how many people they kill?” Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head.  “At least they didn’t care before, and I doubt they care now.”

“So, even if they realize I’m not one of you—”

“I doubt they’ll care,” Quinn said.

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Rachel wondered.

“Because I don’t want you to worry,” Quinn replied.  “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

“I believe you,” Rachel said.

Rachel didn’t doubt that Quinn would do everything she could to keep her safe.  She didn’t even know why she had so much faith in Quinn, but she did.  Maybe she was just being naive or maybe it was because she felt like she’d known her for much longer than she had, but she knew Quinn wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

“Is Puck safe where he is?” Rachel wondered.

“He should be,” Quinn replied.  “At least for now.  Santana’s cousin is cop, so he’s convinced them to have someone watching him.  I’m more worried about you right now than him.”

“I figured you’d be more worried about someone you’ve known all your life than someone you only met a few weeks ago,” Rachel commented.

Quinn looked away and Rachel thought she could see a slight tinge to her cheeks.  Rachel wanted to ask if she was so worried about her because she had feelings for her, but she decided against it.  They hadn’t exactly brought up the kiss, and as much as Rachel wanted to talk about it, she was afraid of pushing Quinn.  She knew the blonde liked her, but she had the feeling she wasn’t exactly out to the general student body.

“Two garden burgers,” the waiter said, stopping next to their table.  “Who had the onion rings?”

“Me,” Quinn replied.

He set their plates in front of them, giving Rachel the one with the fries, and then left them alone again.  As she looked at her plate, she  
was glad she had let Quinn pick the restaurant.

“I hope this tastes as good as it looks,” Rachel said, glancing at Quinn with a smile.

“Do you doubt me?” Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow.

Rachel laughed lightly, shaking her head.  “No.  I’m simply surprised there’s a restaurant in Lima that serves veggie burgers, especially ones that are good.”

“There are a few good things about this town,” Quinn said with a shrug.

“I’ve noticed,” Rachel replied.  “Hopefully everything will settle down soon and I can learn a little more about those things.”

“Hopefully,” Quinn agreed, giving her a slight smile.

***

Rachel glanced at Quinn as she slowed the car to a stop at a red light.  Quinn had been fairly quiet during the car ride and Rachel couldn’t help wondering if she’d said something at the restaurant to upset her.  She kept opening her mouth to ask, but she would always close it before saying anything.

“Is everything okay, Quinn?” Rachel finally asked after a few more minutes of silence.  “I mean, other than the obvious.”

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.

“I didn’t—I didn’t say anything to upset you, did I?” Rachel asked.

Quinn looked at her before focusing her eyes back on the road.  “Why would you think you did anything?”

“I don’t know.” Rachel shrugged.  “You’ve just been really quiet since we left the restaurant and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t something I did.  If I did do something to offend you in some way, please let me know so I can apologize for it.”

“You didn’t do anything, Rachel,” Quinn replied.

Rachel nodded.  “You would tell me if I did, wouldn’t you?”

“You would know if you had,” Quinn replied with a slight smile.

Rachel furrowed her brows, wondering exactly what Quinn had meant, but she didn’t ask.  She was just happy to hear that Quinn wasn’t angry with her or anything.

“Something is obviously on your mind, though,” Rachel commented.  “Just know that if you want to talk about it, I’m here.  Or if you ever want to talk about anything else.  I can be a very good listening and I’m certainly not one to gossip, so anything you said would stay between us.”

Quinn nodded, and for a moment, Rachel thought she was going to say something, but she remained quiet.  She wasn’t entirely surprised, though; from what she had heard about Quinn from other people, she seemed like a fairly private person.

“Can I ask you something?” Rachel asked.

Quinn hummed, which Rachel took it as a yes, but she still hesitated.  She didn’t want to make things awkward between them, but she had been thinking about something, and she wanted to know if she was crazy or not.

“Did you—when we met—” Rachel sighed.  “I don’t quite know how to explain this.  When we met, I felt like I had known you for a long time.  I know we’d never actually met before, but I felt like we had.  There was just this pull that I felt toward you that I’ve never really felt before, and I was just curious if you felt something similar.  And I don’t just mean that I was attracted to you.  I mean, I was, but I don’t—” Rachel cleared her throat, feeling herself blush.  “I don’t think that was solely the cause.”

Quinn glanced at her with an amused look on her face.  “I know what you mean.  And, yeah, I guess I kind of did.”

“Really?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.  “That’s why—”

“That’s why what?” Rachel wondered.

“I may have been the reason your car didn’t start after school,” Quinn said.

Rachel let out a light gasp.  “You’re the reason my battery died?”

“This may come as a surprise to you, but I’m not great at talking to people,” Quinn replied.  “At least not people I want to talk to.”  She glanced at Rachel.  “Which is probably because there aren’t really a lot of people I usually want to talk to.  But after talking to you in the hallway, I knew I wanted to talk to you again, so I made sure it happened.”

“Are you also the reason we were paired for the history project?” Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head.  “Not unless I accidentally did it, which could have happened, but I doubt it.”

“Does that mean you’re not always in control of your powers?” Rachel wondered.

“Usually, but sometimes things happen involuntarily,” Quinn replied.  “It happened more when I first got them and was still learning everything.”

Rachel hummed and then slowly smiled as Quinn pulled into her driveway.  She was surprised that Quinn had deliberately sabotaged her car, but she couldn’t say she was unhappy about it.  Quite the opposite, actually.

“Are you going to walk me to my door?” Rachel asked.

Quinn cocked her eyebrow and opened her door.  Rachel laughed lightly and stepped out of the car, meeting Quinn at the front of it.  As Quinn walked her toward the door, Rachel couldn’t help feeling a little nervous, hoping Quinn may kiss her.  Their evening may not technically have been a date, but it was the closest she had ever come to one.

“I had a lot of fun tonight, Quinn,” Rachel said, tucking her hair behind her ear as they walked up the steps to the front door.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.  “Me too.”

“I know you didn’t necessarily want to go to dinner,” Rachel said, looking down.

“I’m glad I did,” Quinn replied.

Rachel smiled and noticed Quinn glance down at her lips.  A few moments later, Quinn took a step forward, and Rachel started to lean up until she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

“Quinn, look out!” Rachel said when she saw several figures approaching.

Before Quinn could respond, one of the masked figures had grabbed her from behind, locking their arms around Quinn’s arms and torso, and knocking Rachel back.  A flash of light flew from Quinn’s hand as the second person approached her, missing them by only a few inches. As the light passed by, she noticed it reflect against something the person was holding, and when she looked down, she realized they were holding a knife.

“Stop!” Rachel yelled.

Rachel kicked the person in the shin and he let out a deep grunt, but didn’t let go of Quinn.   She was afraid of what would happen if she got too close to the person with the knife, so she reached out to try to pry the man’s arms off Quinn when something seemed to pass between them.  The moment she grabbed the man’s arm, a flash of purple light illuminated from her hand, causing him to yell in pain.  Rachel immediately let go and stumbled back, but it had been enough for him to release Quinn, who didn’t hesitate in lunging toward the person with the knife.

Before Rachel knew what was happening, a flash of purple light seemed to come out of her hands, hitting the man that had been holding Quinn.  Just as it knocked him to the ground, she heard the other person—a woman by the sound of the voice—also yell in pain.  When Rachel looked over at her, her arm was encased in ice while the other had a long gash on it, and she was retreating from Quinn, who was now holding the knife in her hand.

“Quinn!” Rachel called out when her hands began to light up again.

Rachel was terrified and didn’t seem to have any control over what was happening.  Before she could stop it, a ball of light flew from her hand and hit the woman in the chest, barely missing Quinn, who was staring at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

“What is happening?” Rachel asked as she held her hands up and stared at them in shock.


	6. Learning

**Chapter 6 – Learning**

“Quinn?!” Rachel cried when the blonde didn’t respond.

It was obvious Quinn knew nothing more than she did, but Rachel didn’t want to believe that.  She wanted Quinn to have the answers so she wouldn’t feel quite so scared and confused.

“What is happening?” Rachel asked again.

Quinn slowly shook her head.  “I’m guessing you should probably ask your fathers.”

“They don’t—do you really think they would know anything?” Rachel asked.  “They would have told me!”

The thought that her fathers would keep something like this from her just made her upset on top of the myriad of emotions that she was already feeling.  She and her fathers had always been very open with each other.  She always told them everything and, as far as she knew, they’d always done the same.

“No, this is—” Her mouth opened and closed several times, not knowing what to say.  She wanted to deny that anything was happening, but she was far too aware of the fact that her skin felt like it was humming, as if something had been unleashed inside of her.

Rachel glanced around and saw that the two people who’d attacked them were gone.  Without saying anything, Rachel turned and unlocked the door, walking into the dark house.  Even though she really just wanted to be alone, she left the door open for Quinn.  She knew the blonde wouldn’t let her stay there alone anyway since it was obvious that her fathers weren’t home, and Rachel didn’t have the energy to argue with her.

“Where are your fathers?” Quinn asked.

“I don’t know,” Rachel replied as she turned on the light.  “They were supposed to be home by now.  I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”

“Rachel,” Quinn said when Rachel began walking toward the living room.

Rachel stopped but didn’t turn to look at her.  “What, Quinn?”

“It’s going to be okay,” Quinn said, taking Rachel’s hand, and pulling her around to look at her.  “I can imagine how you’re probably feeling right now, but everything is going to be fine.  I don’t know what’s going on—as far as we knew, we were the only four of us in the world—but I promise it’s going to be okay.”

Rachel looked down at their joined hands.  She wondered if this was why she had been drawn to Quinn in the first place.  Did she somehow sense that she was like her?  Then again, she hadn’t felt that way with any of the other three.  She just felt it with Quinn.

“How did they know?” Rachel asked, furrowing her brows.

“How did who know?” Quinn asked.

“The people,” Rachel replied.  “The ones who tried to take me and the ones who were here tonight.  How did they know to come after me?”

“I don’t know,” Quinn said.  “Maybe they didn’t.  At least not because of this.”

“What do you mean?” Rachel wondered.

Quinn slowly sighed.  “Brittany—she thinks Santana is right in a way.  Not that your fathers are involved, but she thinks they went after you to get to me.”

“What, like, they were going to kidnap me to get you to come to them?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.

“But we just met,” Rachel said, shaking her head.  “Why would they think you would risk yourself for me?”

“Do you remember the day I drove you home?” Quinn asked.  “You know, when your car wouldn’t start.”

“Of course,” Quinn replied.

“Later that say, after the game, I went to eat with Santana and Brittany,” Quinn said.  “I told them about you, and Brittany thinks someone may have been eavesdropping.  She said she saw a guy looking at us a lot, but  she didn’t really think anything about it.”

“Three attractive girls; I imagine you get a lot of men staring at you,” Rachel commented.

“So, it’s my fault they went after you in the first place,” Quinn said.  “They knew I liked you, and you were the easiest target since you couldn’t fight back like everyone else.  That’s what Brittany thinks, anyway.”

“I guess it would make sense,” Rachel replied.  “Although, like I said, I don’t understand why they would think you would risk yourself for someone you had just met.”

“Maybe because I would,” Quinn said with a slight shrug.

Rachel looked away and then slowly turned, pulling her hand out of Quinn’s grasp, and walking to the couch   She didn’t know what to say to Quinn, and she just wanted her fathers to get home.  She didn’t know if they could give her any answers, but she didn’t know who else to ask, though part of her almost hoped they couldn’t.  At least it would mean they hadn’t lied to her her whole life.

***

Rachel stood and began walking toward the front door the moment she heard her fathers’ car pull into the driveway.  She and Quinn had been sitting there in silence for nearly twenty minutes, and had been debating simply calling them and asking them to hurry home.  The longer she had sat there, the more anxious she had become, and the more she needed answers.

“Hi, sweetie,” Leroy said when he opened the door and saw his daughter.

“I need to talk to you,” Rachel stated.

“Is everything okay?” Hiram asked.

“No, it’s not,” Rachel replied.

Her fathers exchanged a worried look and then Leroy asked, “Whose car is in the driveway.”

“Quinn’s,” Rachel replied.  “Can you come into the living room?”

“Is our daughter about to come out to us?” Leroy asked, looking at Hiram.

“This isn’t about that.” Rachel huffed.  “This is about Quinn and I being attacked tonight, and—”

“Attacked?” Leroy interrupted.  “Are you hurt?”

“No,” Rachel replied.  “And neither is Quinn, but—”

“Did you call the police?” Hiram asked.

“I want the truth,” Rachel said, ignoring her father’s question.  “When they grabbed Quinn tonight, something—something happened.  I—”

Rachel shook her head; if she explained it to them and they really had no idea, they would think she was crazy.  But a moment later, she noticed another look pass between them, and it wasn’t a look of worry.

“You know, don’t you?” Rachel said, her voice wavering.

Leroy glanced at his husband before looking at Rachel again.  “Let’s go into the living room.”

Rachel felt numb as she followed her fathers into the living room, where Quinn was still sitting.  The two men sat on the couch, and even though there was still a seat left, Rachel opted to join Quinn on the loveseat.

“I take it this is Quinn,” Leroy said.

“Yeah,” Quinn replied.

“I want you to tell me right now what is going on,” Rachel demanded, gaining her fathers’ attention again.  “And then I want to know why you never told me before.”

“First, tell us exactly what happened tonight,” Hiram replied.

“No,” Rachel said, crossing her arms over her chest.  “I want you to explain.”

Rachel was frustrated that she wasn’t getting anywhere with her fathers.  Her hand gave a slight twitch, shooting purple sparks from it, catching everyone’s attention.  She swallowed thickly at the sight and felt tears in her eyes when Quinn reached over and put her hand over Rachel’s.

“How could you keep this from me?” Rachel asked.

“Because we were trying to protect you,” Leroy said before glancing at Quinn.  “I’m going to assume you know what happened in the past.”

“Is that why we came here?” Rachel asked.

“No,” Hiram replied.  “If we had known, we never would have moved here.”

“We didn’t know this is where it all happened until you were telling us about your history project and we put two and two together,” Leroy said.  “She didn’t tell us.”

“My mom,” Rachel replied in understanding.  “She’s the one I got this from.”

“Yes,” Leroy answered.

“She told us when she chose us to adopt you,” Hiram explained.  “She wanted to know you would be safe.  She made us promise not to tell you until you were eighteen and could decide for yourself if you wanted to find the rest.”

“But how?” Quinn asked.  “As long as we’ve known, there have only ever been four of us.”

Leroy shook his head.  “We don’t know.  She only told us that Rachel would gain her powers when she turned twelve and that it was dangerous if people knew.  She told us as little as possible, hoping it would keep Rachel safer.  I guess she thought if we didn’t even know, then how could anyone else.”

“Unfortunately, because of that, we seemed to have moved to the worst possible place,” Hiram added.

“You don’t know anything else?” Rachel asked.

“We knew everyone else died in a fire and that they had been hunted for a long time,” Leroy said.  “We were under the impression that there was no one else left.  The only other thing we knew was something we accidentally saw.  The last name Fabray.”

“How?” Rachel asked.

“Do you remember when we were moving and some boxes fell over?” Hiram asked.

“I tried to help you with them and you told me not to,” Rachel recalled.

Hiram nodded.  “Your mother left a diary for you.  It fell out, and I saw the last name whenever I picked it up.  We were supposed to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday, but I guess there’s no point in waiting now.”

“That’s why when I introduced you to Quinn, you acted strange,” Rachel replied, looking over at Quinn.

“It isn’t exactly a common last name,” Leroy said.  “As soon as your father saw it, he knew.”

“Can I see this diary?” Rachel asked.

“There’s something else,” Hiram said, glancing at Leroy.  “Why we decided to leave New York.”

Rachel frowned.  “You said it was for your job.”

“We saw an obituary in the paper,” Leroy said.  “She was going by a different name, but we recognized her from the picture.  I’m sorry, sweetie, but it was for your mother.”

“We would have told you, but we were afraid you would want to go looking into her life, and we were afraid of what would happen if you did,” Hiram added.  “So, when I found out they were looking for someone to run the plant here, I asked for it.  It didn’t say how she died, but we figured better safe than sorry.”

Rachel could feel all the blood drain out of her face and there was a slight ringing in her ears.  She understood her fathers wanting to keep her safe, but she couldn’t believe they could have kept so much from her.  She had never met her mother, but part of her had always hoped she would one day, and now that was never going to happen.  It was just all too much for her to take in at once.

“The diary,” Rachel said after a few moments in a hollow voice.

Leroy nodded and stood up.  “I’ll go get for you.”

***

Rachel wiped away the tear that was trailing its way down her cheek as she closed the leather bound diary.  Seeing her mother’s handwriting had made everything more real, and she couldn’t help the tears that had come to her eyes.

After a few minutes, she looked up at Quinn, who had been waiting patiently on her bed.  They had immediately gone up to Rachel’s room as soon as Leroy had handed her the diary.  It took her a while to begin looking through it, but she hadn’t wanted to sit with her fathers any longer.  Even if she understood that they were simply trying to keep her safe, she still wasn’t happy that they had kept something so huge from her.  She couldn’t help feeling like her entire life had been a lie, and it hurt all the more because she never thought they would do something like that.

“Are you okay?” Quinn asked, and then shook her head.  “That’s probably a stupid question.”

“I don’t know how I am,” Rachel admitted.  “I can’t believe my fathers have lied to me for so long.  I know they meant well, but that doesn’t really make me feel any better about it.  And I—” Rachel paused, sniffing.  “I’ve always wondered about my mother, but now I’m not so sure if I’m glad I know.”

“I know it’s a shock,” Quinn replied.  “It was hard enough when I got my powers, and I knew my whole life that I was going to get them.  I can’t imagine just finding out like this.  I know I don’t know your fathers, but for what it’s worth, I do think they were just trying to protect you.”

“I know,” Rachel said, looking down, and then holding out the diary.  “This may answer some of your questions.”

“Are you sure?” Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded, knowing Quinn probably had just as many questions as she did, so she figured she had every right to read it.  “It’s okay.”

Quinn hesitated, but after a few moments, she took the diary from her and began looking through it.  As Quinn began reading the diary, Rachel stood up from her desk and began pacing around the room.  She was having trouble sitting still, feeling like she had too much energy in her body.

“Does it always feel like this?” Rachel asked.  “Can you always feel it?  I mean, I realize it must have always been there, but now it’s like my whole body is humming.”

“No, it’s not always like that,” Quinn replied.  “You’ll get used to it, and then you’ll barely notice it.”

“How could I never have felt it before?” Rachel wondered.

“You probably did, but you didn’t realize what it was,” Quinn said.  “Do you remember anything about your twelfth birthday?”

“I—” Rachel furrowed her brows.  “Yeah.  I was sick on my birthday.  I thought I had the flu; it just hit me overnight.  Luckily, it was the first day of winter break or I would have probably missed a week or two of school.  I always wondered why my fathers didn’t take me to the hospital, but I guess now I know why.  That’s when I got my powers, and they knew what was happening.  They just didn’t tell me.”

“I just don’t understand how we didn’t know any of this,” Quinn remarked.

“You never knew there was a fifth?” Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head.  “Never.  As far as I know, there have only ever been four of us.”  She looked down at the diary.  “Your mom knew, though.  And unlike the people hunting us, she knew all along that our lines didn’t die out.” Quinn ran her hand through her hair with a sigh.  “I guess it makes sense that there would be a fifth.  Some of the oldest documents talk about spirit.  We were told it was something that linked the four of us together, not something a fifth person had.”

“I assume you can’t really tell me much more about these powers, can you?” Rachel asked.

“You know as much as I do about them,” Quinn said, shaking her head.  “Other than the basic things we can all do, everyone’s powers work differently.  The best way to learn about them is to use them and see what you can do.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that,” Rachel replied.

Quinn shrugged.  “Whenever you are, let me know.  That is, if you want me there.”

“Of course.” Rachel paused for a moment. “I, um, I know you probably want to tell the others, but can you wait?”

“They need to know, Rachel,” Quinn replied.

“Just until Monday,” Rachel said.  “Please.  I just need a little time.  I don’t think I could handle being bombarded with questions that I don’t really know how to answer right now.”

***

Rachel felt strange when she walked into school on Monday.  It felt like so much had changed since she had last been there even though it had only been a few days.  For her, though, it felt like much longer.  Then again, her whole world had changed over the weekend.

“There you are.”

“Hello, Kurt,” Rachel replied without look at him.

“You were supposed to call me yesterday,” Kurt said, putting his hands on his hips.

Rachel sighed.  “I’m sorry.  I had a family emergency.”

“Is everyone okay?” Kurt asked.

“Yeah, it’s just—it’s complicated, and I would rather not really talk about it,” Rachel replied.  “I hope you understand.”

“Hey.”

Rachel looked over her shoulder at the sound of Quinn’s voice.  “Hi.”

“Can we talk?” Quinn asked, glancing at Kurt.

“Someone’s popular this morning,” Kurt remarked, raising his eyebrow.  “I’ll see you in first period.  If you’re not too busy with your new friends.”

Rachel noticed Quinn roll her eyes as Kurt turned his back to them and began walking down the hallway.  Normally, Rachel would have gone after him and been more apologetic for forgetting to call him, but she already had too much to deal with at the moment, and Kurt was going to have to wait.

“Are you ready?” Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head.  “Can we wait until later?”

“You said we would tell them on Monday, and it’s Monday,” Quinn replied.

“And it will be Monday after school, as well,” Rachel stated.  “I promise we can tell them today.  I’m just—” Rachel sighed.  “Telling them will make it feel more real, and I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”

“I’m not trying to rush you,” Quinn said, reaching out, and wrapping her hand around Rachel’s.  “The others need to know, though.”

“Come with me,” Rachel said, holding onto Quinn’s hand.

Quinn didn’t ask where they were going as Rachel began leading her down the hall.  Rachel noticed the people in the hallways giving her and Quinn weird looks as they passed, and she wondered if Quinn noticed or if she even cared.  Whether she did or not, Quinn didn’t try to remove her hand from Rachel’s grasp, and when they reached the unused classroom Santana had taken her to, their hands were still linked together.

“I wonder if it’s still open,” Rachel said.

She put her hand on the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t turn.  Sighing, she looked at Quinn in a silent request to open it for her.

“You can do it, you know,” Quinn said.

“I—I didn’t really think about that,” Rachel replied.

She hadn’t used her powers since Friday evening, and she honestly didn’t really know how they worked.  The diary had explained the things she could do, but she didn’t know how to make any of those things happen.

“You can control the energy of things, right?” Quinn said as if reading her mind.  “Just focus on moving the energy of the lock.”

Rachel bit her lip and closed her eyes as she focused on what Quinn was talking about.  She visualized the lock moving, but after several attempts, the doorknob still wouldn’t turn.  Huffing, she opened her eyes and tried refocusing on the lock.  After a few moments, her hand glowed purple for a second, and when she tried the doorknob again, it turned in her hand.

“Santana made that look a lot easier,” Rachel said as she opened the door.

“She’s had a lot of practice,” Quinn replied.  “You should have seen her when she first got them.  She probably would have burned down Brittany’s bedroom if I wasn’t there to stop the fire.”

“Well, at least I never managed to do that,” Rachel said, feeling a little bit better.

“What did you want to talk about?” Quinn asked as Rachel closed the door behind them.

“Who said I want to talk about anything?” Rachel asked back.

“I assumed that’s why you wanted to come in here,” Quinn replied.

Rachel felt herself blushing slightly.  “Actually, I wanted to come in here for this.”  She leaned forward, brushing her lips against Quinn’s, and then pulled away to look at the other girl.  “Is this okay?”

“Do you hear me complaining?” Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled, and Quinn brought their lips together again.  As the blonde pulled her closer, Rachel wrapped her arms around Quinn’s neck.  She usually wasn’t one to be so forward and pull girls in empty classrooms while at school, but after everything that had happened over the weekend, she just wanted to feel normal again.  And kissing Quinn certainly made her forget everything else.  Not to mention the fact that she just really wanted to kiss Quinn again.

***

“What the hell is she doing here?” Santana asked, stopping in her tracks the moment she saw Rachel.

“She really isn’t supposed to be down here,” Brittany said, glancing from Quinn to Rachel.

“We swore we’d never bring anyone else here or did you forget that when you fell for the dwarf here?” Santana asked.

“Things change,” Quinn replied.

“Not this,” Santana said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I understand that this place is your sanctuary, so to speak, but Quinn and I thought this would be the best place to discuss something with you,” Rachel replied.

Santana narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to respond, but Quinn held her hand up to stop her.  Rachel had been warned that Santana wouldn’t be happy she was there, so she wasn’t surprised.  The attic at Quinn’s house was usually only for the four of them, and Rachel had been hesitant to intrude, but Quinn told that she had just as much right to be there as the rest of them.

“Quinn, what’s going on?” Brittany asked.  “You’ve been really weird today.”

“I’m afraid that’s my fault,” Rachel said.  “Quinn wanted to talk to both of you today, but I asked her to wait.”

“What did you want to talk to us about?” Brittany asked.

“Do you want to tell them?” Quinn asked, looking over at her.

Rachel shook her head.  “You can.”

“Rachel’s,” Quinn glanced at her, “one of us.  She’s a witch.”

Santana scoffed.  “And I’m the queen of England.”

“We were attacked on Friday,” Quinn explained.  “We went to dinner after the game, and when I took her home, there were two hunters there.  Rachel—she has powers.”

“Are you serious?” Brittany asked.

“There’s no way in hell,” Santana replied.

“She didn’t know until that night,” Quinn continued.  “It turns out her mom was a witch.”

“And you didn’t know?” Brittany asked.

Rachel shook her head.  “I never met my mother.  My fathers adopted when I was born; they’re all I’ve ever known.”

“They didn’t tell her because they were trying to keep her safe,” Quinn said.  “Her mother’s line knew our great-great-great grandparents were all murdered, and they went into hiding.  She gave her up for adoption so no one would ever find her.  Except now they have.  They’ve found all of us.”

“But what power do you have?” Brittany wondered.

“Spirit,” Quinn answered.  “The most powerful one.”

“I don’t know what drugs you all are on, but—”

Rachel held her hand up while Santana had been talking and concentrated on feeling the energy in the room.  Unlike the other four, she knew she could manipulate anything that had recently been touched by another human being, so she focused on the closest thing around her.  It wasn’t easy, but as she stared at the largest book on the bookshelf, she felt the power building.  After a few moments, her hand glowed and the book she’d been focusing on flew toward her, leaving Santana hanging in mid-sentence.

“Believe us now?” Quinn asked.

“This is awesome!” Brittany said.  “It’s not just the four of us now!”

“It may still only be the four of us if Puck never wakes up,” Santana remarked.

“Speaking of which, now that you know we’re telling the truth, I have a proposal,” Rachel said, trying not to look at Quinn.  “I think we should find the witch hunters before they find us.”

“Wait, what?” Quinn asked.  “No.”

“But—” Rachel was cut off when Quinn grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the side of the room.

“What are you doing?” Quinn hissed.

“None of us are going to be safe while they’re out there,” Rachel said.  “They know who we are, or at least the know who the two of us are.  We’re never going to be safe until they’re gone, and you know it.  I don’t want to spend the rest of my life waiting to be attacked.  It’s the only way we’ll ever be able to go back to our normal lives.  Or semi-normal in my case.  Don’t tell me you haven’t been thinking the same thing.  Although, I’m sure you were planning on leaving the rest of us behind while going after them.  Am I right?”

“She has a point,” Santana said, though it sounded like it pained her to agree with Rachel.

Quinn shook her head.  “No.”

“Why not?” Rachel asked.

“Because you don’t even know how to use your powers yet,” Quinn replied.

“Well, then, I guess I’ll just have to learn quickly,” Rachel said, giving her a small smile.


	7. Magic

 

 

**Chapter 7 – Magic**

Rachel smiled as her hand lit up and the desk she’d been concentrating on flew toward the wall.

“You’re getting better at that.”

Rachel’s smile grew as she looked over her shoulder and saw Quinn standing there.  “I told you I was going to practice.”

After she left Quinn’s house, she had worked on controlling her powers until she could barely keep her eyes open.  She was nowhere near where the rest of them were, but considering she had only known about hers for less than a week and they had had years of practice, she thought she was doing fairly well.  It was still nowhere near second nature to her and she still had to focus, but she was getting better and quicker with things.

“Rachel—”

“I know what you’re going to say, Quinn.” Rachel interrupted.  “You’re going to try to change my mind, but I think you should be the one to reconsider.”

“Look what happened to Puck,” Quinn said.  “He could have died.  I don’t want that to happen to anyone else.”

“And I don’t want to live the rest of my life in fear,” Rachel replied.  “I know my life is never going to be completely normal again, but I don’t want to always be looking over my shoulder.  You know I’m right about this; you’re just too stubborn to admit it.”

“Puck woke up overnight,” Quinn stated.

“Really?” Rachel said, turning around to look at her.  “How is he?”

Quinn shook her head.  “We don’t know yet.  I know he’s talking, so we’re hoping that’s a good sign.”

“Did he say anything about the man who attacked him?” Rachel asked.  “If he knows who it is, maybe we can find him.”

“And what would you do if you did find him?” Quinn asked.  “Are you going to kill him?  Or did you not think of that part?”

“I have no intention of killing anyone, Quinn,” Rachel replied.

“Well, that’s what they’ll do to you if they can,” Quinn said.

“I’m quite aware of that,” Rachel replied.

She sighed as she turned back around and pulled the desk toward her with her powers.  She was a little surprised that she was able to do it so easily, but she had quickly learned that her emotions had a great impact on her powers.  She wasn’t as in control of them when she was upset or frustrated, but they certainly seemed to come to her more easily.

“Look, Rachel, I know you want this all to go away, but—”

“Of course I want this to go away!” Rachel interrupted.  “You could have been killed on Friday, and I would have had to have watched it happen.  This isn’t just about me being afraid for myself.  I’m also afraid for you.  And everyone else, of course, but you’re—” Rachel sighed.  “I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”

She couldn’t really explain it, but what she felt for Quinn felt much deeper than anyone she’d ever had feelings for in the past.  Maybe their powers just sensed each other and that’s why everything about her felt so familiar or maybe it was simply love at first sight.  Whatever it was, Rachel certainly wasn’t going to let anything happen to Quinn if she could help it.

“After you left last night, I told my parents about you,” Quinn said.

“What did they say?” Rachel wondered.

“I think my dad was even more surprised than I was,” Quinn said.  “He also warned me against getting too close to you.”

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows.  “Why is that?”

“I think he’s worried you’re going to hurt me,” Quinn replied with a slight shrug of her shoulder.  “He told me not to trust you.”

“What did you say?” Rachel asked.

“That it was too late for that,” Quinn replied.  “You say you don’t know what you would do if anything happened to me, but I feel the same    
way about you.  I know we can’t wait around for them to attack us again, but I’m afraid something will happen to you if we go after them.  I know what it was like when I first got my powers—”

“But I didn’t just get them,” Rachel interrupted.  “I just need to learn to use them, and I like to think I’m a quick study.” She took a few steps toward Quinn.  “You know I’m right about this.”

Quinn let out a long sigh and looked away before a few seconds before looking back at Rachel.  “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t,” Rachel replied.  “We’ll be there to keep each other safe.”

Quinn stared at Rachel for moment and then opened her mouth and asked, “What’s your plan?”

***

“Are you trying to knock me out?” Rachel asked with a huff.

Quinn rolled her eyes.  “You need to learn to slow it down before it gets to you.  You’ve learned to pull things toward you, but you can’t catch everything, which is why you need to learn to stop it before it hits you at full force.”

“Can’t we start with something smaller?” Rachel asked.

“Call it motivation,” Quinn replied with a smirk.

Rachel sighed as she looked at the large, wooden trunk Quinn had set on the table.  It was practically as big as she was, and the thought of it flying at her was a little unnerving.

“You’re the one who wants to learn to use your powers,” Quinn reminded her.  “Who knows what you’re going to have to do.  You need to be prepared.  This may seem pointless, but the more control you have over them, the more you’ll be able to do other things.  We both know you can repel something that’s just sitting there, so now you need to learn to do it with something that’s moving.”

Rachel knew Quinn was right, so rather than arguing about it, she focused on the trunk.  It no longer took nearly as much effort or concentration, coming much more naturally to her now, so the trunk flew toward her after only a moment.  As it neared, she tried repelling it like she would anything else, but she wasn’t quite fast enough.  Thankfully, she’d managed to slow it down a little, but it still slammed into her with a loud thud, momentarily knocking the wind out of her.

“Are you okay?” Quinn asked, walking over, and taking the trunk from her.

“I have a feeling I’m going to be severely bruised tomorrow,” Rachel said, rubbing at her arm, where the corner had hit her.

“Let me see,” Quinn said, setting the trunk on the floor, and then reaching out for Rachel’s arm.

Rachel shook her head.  “It’s nothing.  Just a little scratch.”

“You’re bleeding,” Quinn said.

Rachel looked down at her hand and then down at her arm and saw that Quinn was right.  It wasn’t terrible, but her arm was definitely bleeding.

“It’s fine,” Rachel replied, not wanting to make a big deal over it.

“Sit,” Quinn said, pulling her toward a chair, and pushing her down.

“I’m fine, Quinn,” Rachel protested, but when she tried to stand up, Quinn pushed her back down.

“You’re at least going to let me put a band-aid on it,” Quinn said.

Rachel shook her head.  “You don’t have to trouble yourself.”

“It’s no trouble,” Quinn said, rolling her eyes.  “Seeing as how we’re a bunch of teenagers with magical powers, we have a first aid kit up here.  Puck liked to manipulate metals without really paying attention, so you can imagine the number of times he’s cut himself.  And don’t even get me started on Santana.  Thankfully, Brittany can’t really hurt herself with her powers or she would really be in trouble.”

“You know, it really doesn’t seem fair,” Rachel commented.  “Why are my powers so much stronger than everyone else’s?”

“I guess someone has to be in charge,” Quinn replied as she walked over to one of the shelves and began rummaging around.

“I have no desire to be in charge,” Rachel stated.

“Why do I have a feeling that’s the first time you’ve ever said that,” Quinn said, glancing over at her with a smirk.

“Probably because it is,” Rachel replied, smiling back as Quinn walked over.  “But I’m certainly not here to try to take your place.”

“If you do, good luck with Santana,” Quinn remarked, kneeling down in front of her.  “This is probably going to hurt.”

Rachel hissed slightly when Quinn began dabbing something on her arm.  She was just thankful tears didn’t come to her eyes.  She’d always had a fairly low pain tolerance, but she was trying not to show it, not wanting Quinn to think she was weak in any way.

“Sorry,” Quinn said.

“It’s fine; I was just surprised,” Rachel replied.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Quinn said as she put the band-aid on Rachel’s arm.

“Alright, so I’m not very good at being injured,” Rachel replied.  “That’s just all the more reason for me to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“Do you want to try it again?” Quinn asked, standing up.

Rachel nodded.  “Of course.  We can’t waste time just because I have a little scratch.”

“Maybe we should buy you some protective gear,” Quinn said, offering Rachel her hand.

“I’ll be fine, Quinn,” Rachel replied, taking her hand, and letting her help her up.

“I hope so,” Quinn softly said, biting her lip for a moment, and then turning away.

***

Rachel had been compulsively moving objects every chance she could get.  There were other powers that she had, but she couldn’t exactly test them out as easily unless she had a human volunteer.  And while Brittany and Quinn had both offered to be her guinea pigs, it didn’t really feel right.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have a lot of choice if she was going to have her best chance at taking on the people who were hunting them.

She hadn’t tried everything Shelby had described in the diary, but she had attempted a lot of the things.  Controlling objects was the easiest.  If she could sense someone’s essence on it, she could use it to move the object.  Some things were easier than others, and she assumed it was due to how long it had been since someone touched it and how well the material held onto to the person’s energy.

The thing that was harder was controlling people.  She had only done it once when Quinn made her, but she didn’t feel comfortable controlling another person like that.  She was prepared to do it when they faced the hunters, but doing it on someone she cared about was a different matter.  Even with Quinn’s permission—and even her insistence—it still wasn’t something she had wanted to do, and she had been relieved when it was over.

“Rachel, your date is here!”

Rachel flew the English textbook back where it had been sitting and walked over to the mirror.  She had already checked her costume and makeup several times, but she couldn’t help looking once more.  Even if this wasn’t exactly a typical trip to the school dance, she still wanted to look nice for Quinn.  After all, it may be the only dance she ever got to go to if things didn’t go the way they were hoping.

Before leaving the room, she walked over to her desk and opened the drawer, pulling out an envelope, and setting it on top of her textbook.  She hadn’t told her fathers what they were doing, but if things went badly, she wanted them to have an explanation.  She hoped it didn’t come to that and she wished she could tell them before she left, but she knew they would try to stop her.  Not that they really could, but she didn’t want her possible last conversation with them to be a fight.

Resisting the urge to look at herself in the mirror once more, Rachel walked toward the door, glancing at her room one last time before walking into the hall.  Just as she reached the top of the stairs, her father started calling her again, but he stopped the moment her saw her standing there.

“Honey, she’s ready!” Hiram called out.

Rachel locked eyes with Quinn and gave her an apologetic smile as she walked down the stairs.  She’d warned the blonde that her fathers were probably going to be overly excited about the dance, and she wasn’t wrong.  Since she’d told them about it a few days before, they had been talking about it every chance they got.  Then again, Rachel figured that was partly because they were doing their best to avoid talking about the fact that they’d lied to her for so long, and talking about the dance was a neutral topic.

“Where is your father?” Hiram asked, walking off.

“You look beautiful, Quinn,” Rachel said, stopping on the bottom step.

“So do you,” Quinn replied.

Rachel smiled and ducked her head.  “Thank you.”

Since neither of them had planned on going to the Halloween dance until the last minute, they were both wearing costumes they had worn before.  Rachel thought they matched surprisingly well, though.  Her dress was from when she’d played Juliet in a local production of Romeo and Juliet, and Quinn had a similar styled dress from a renaissance carnival the school had done the previous year.  Neither was the most practical thing to wear, but that was part of the point.  They didn’t want the witch hunters knowing they were ready for them.

“Are you still sure you want to do this?” Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded.  “Very.” Rachel paused, clasping her hands in front of her.  “Are you sure you’re okay going to the dance with me?  I mean, I know people are going to talk about it, and—”

“Let them,” Quinn interrupted.  “I don’t care.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to have at least one dance tonight?” Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged and then smiled.  “I guess we’ll see.”

***

“Do you see anyone out of the ordinary?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, there’s Frankenstein over there and a zombie over there and—”

“Thank you, Brittany,” Rachel said, cutting her off.  “I guess I should have asked if either of you have seen anyone suspicious.”

“The guy by the punch bowl has been staring at us a lot,” Brittany said.  “He’s even looking over here right now.”

“There’s also this weirdo in one of those executioner masks that’s there every time I turn around,” Santana added.

Rachel looked around the room, but it was impossible to tell who was who.  It seemed as if everyone was either wearing a mask or heavy amounts of makeup.  Of course, that’s exactly why they figured the hunters would be there that night.  It would be easy for them to blend in with the students, and Rachel, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany had made it very known that they would all be at the dance.  They figured the hunters would think they wouldn’t be as on guard if they were having fun and they hoped the thought of getting them all in one night would be too tempting to pass up.

“Pretend everything’s normal,” Quinn instructed.  “Make sure they see you dancing, and then slip away when you can.  You know where to go.  Rachel and I will do our part when you let us know you’re in position.  We’ll let you know if anyone follows you.”

Santana grabbed Brittany’s hand and led her onto the dance floor.  Thankfully, there were so many people around that it was easy to get lost in the crowd, but it also made it difficult for them to keep an eye on Brittany and Santana.  Rachel left that part up to Quinn, though, since her short stature made it impossible to see over anyone.

“Well, well. What do we have here?”

“Hi, Kurt,” Rachel said, angling him away from Quinn, so she could still keep an eye on the room without being too obvious about it.

“I saw you and Quinn walk in together,” Kurt commented, and Rachel knew he was fishing for information.

“Yes, we did,” Rachel replied.

“Are you really going to make me ask?” Kurt huffed and put his hands on his hips.  “Are you two here together?”

“Quinn is my date, yes,” Rachel replied, and she noticing Quinn glance at her with a slight smirk.

“Oh my god!” Kurt said in a whisper, looking between her and Quinn.  “Are you serious?”

“Yes, Quinn and I—”

“Rach.”

Rachel looked at Quinn, who gave her a slight nod, and she knew that was her cue.  “I’m sorry, Kurt, but I need to use the restroom.  I’ll talk to you in a little bit.”

She could tell Kurt was about to protest, but she walked away before he could say anything.  As she made her way through the crowd, she tried to be as visible as possible, wanting to be seen by anyone who may wish to follow her.  When she got to the gym doors, she paused for a moment and acted like she was admiring some of the decorations before opening it and walking into the hallway.

She had no idea if she was being followed or not, but she stuck to the plan, going on the exact path the four of them had discussed.  She knew Brittany and Santana were waiting in classrooms along the way, split up since they had no way of knowing where she may be attacked, if she was going to be at all.  She also knew Quinn wasn’t too far behind, tasking with following anyone who decided to pursue her.

Rachel felt her phone buzz in her hand, and when she opened the text from Quinn, she found a short message: They’re following.

Rachel’s heart rate sped up, but she tried to remain calm.  This is exactly what they had hoped and planned for, but whenever she heard the footsteps behind her, she couldn’t help wondering if this was all a mistake and if she was just putting everyone else in danger.

“Rachel!”

Before she could turn around, the door to her right flew open and Brittany ran out.  As she turned around, she saw a knife skid across the floor, and she knew why Brittany had yelled her name.  Behind the two masked men that had been following her, she saw Quinn running down the hall, and she could hear a door slam open from somewhere behind her, and she knew Santana had also joined them.

As Quinn was still running down the hall, the man in the executioners mask flung a knife at Brittany.  Rachel heard Santana’s yell from down the hall and she could see the fear on Brittany’s face.  Without hesitating, a bright purple light illuminated the hallway, and the knife hovered in midair just inches from Brittany’s chest.

Brittany, Rachel, and the two men all seemed to stare at it for a moment before it fell to the floor and faint yellow light emanated from both of Brittany’s hands, which she pointed directly at the two men.  They both grabbed at their throats, and Rachel knew it was because  
Brittany had taken the air out of their lungs.

“Stop,” Rachel said, reaching out, and putting her hand on Brittany’s arm.

“Why?” Santana asked.  “They would kill us.”

“We agreed not to kill anyone if we can help it,” Rachel replied.

Santana scoffed, but Quinn cut her off when she said, “Let’s get them in the room.”

“I’ll help you,” Rachel said, grabbing one of the guys’ feet, and waiting for Quinn.

Together, they got one of the men in the classroom and used zip ties to bind his arms and feet.  When they walked out, Brittany and Santana were dragging the second man toward the door, so Rachel stepped aside to let them pass.

“Q!”

“Oh, crap,” Quinn whispered before poking her head into the classroom.  “Hurry.  Coach Sylvester’s here.”

***

Rachel had breathed a sigh of relief when Santana got the door closed and locked—well, more melted than locked—before the cheerleading coach had caught up to them.  She wasn’t thrilled, however, when the older woman asked them to go with her.  And as they walked down the hallway with her, Rachel was trying not to panic too much, assuring herself that there was no way Coach Sylvester had seen them use their powers.

“You know, we should really get back to the dance,” Rachel said.

“I’m disappointed in you, Q,” Coach Sylvester said, ignoring that Rachel had ever talked.  “I always thought you reminded me of a young Sue Sylvester, but now you’re here with one of William’s band of rejects.”

Quinn rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything, and Rachel frowned, looking down.

“In my office,” Sue said, holding the door open for them as she looked down the hall from the direction they had come.

“Are you okay, Miss Sylvester?” Rachel asked as she passed by and noticed a deep cut on the woman’s arm.  “Your—”

Her eyes flew up to the woman’s face, who luckily hadn’t noticed what she had been looking at.  Coach Sylvester gave her a look of disgust and walked toward her desk while Rachel turned to Quinn.

“Her arm,” Rachel whispered.  “Friday night—the woman who attacked us.” Rachel glanced at Coach Sylvester, her heart pounding in her chest.  “Quinn—”

“Oh god,” Quinn whispered back in understanding.

“Sit,” Coach Sylvester demanded.

Quinn and Rachel did as they were told, glancing at each other as they joined Brittany and Santana in front of Sue.  Rachel wished she had a way to warn the other two, but she didn’t want to rouse suspicions any more than she probably already had.  She knew they needed to get out of there soon, though, figuring it was the coach’s intention to keep them there until backup arrived.

“You three,” Sue said, looking at the three Cheerios.

“Coach—”

“Back in 2004 when I was in high school, we didn’t have school dances,” Sue said, cutting Brittany off.  “Do you know why?  It was because a couple girls decided to leave the dance early a couple years before.  Do you know what happened to them after they left the dance?”

“We were just trying to find a bathroom that didn’t have hairspray fumes in it,” Santana lied.

“They died,” Sue stated, ignoring Santana.

“We’ll go back to the dance,” Quinn said, standing up.

“It was a tragedy,” Coach Sylvester continued.

Rachel didn’t know what Quinn’s plan was, but she knew Coach Sylvester wasn’t going to easily let them leave the room.  And since she had no way of asking Quinn, she decided to come up with one of her own.  She knew it was risky since she didn’t have complete control over her powers yet, but she had to do something, and she knew the other three were there to back of up if things went awry.

When Quinn looked down at her, Rachel motioned toward Sue with her eyes, hoping Quinn would understand.  A moment later, Rachel lunged forward and grabbed the older woman’s arm, concentrating on bending the older woman’s will to hers.  When she saw Sue’s free hand reach out for something, she knew she was about to be attacked back, but then a flash of blue light appeared and her arm stopped moving.

“What the hell are you doing?” Santana asked.

Before Rachel could answer, she felt a weird sensation in her body and she knew it had finally worked.  When she looked up, Coach Sylvester’s eyes looked blank, though she could feel her trying to fight it.

“She’s one of them,” Quinn said as Rachel pulled her hand back.

“How many of you are here tonight?” Rachel asked.

“Fourteen,” Sue answered.

“How are you communicating with the others?” Rachel wondered.

“Walkie talkies,” Sue answered.

Rachel glanced over at Quinn before looking back at the coach.  “Where is everyone else?”

“Eight are at the football field,” Sue said.  “Two are in the gym, two are in the parking lot.”

“Why are so many on the football field?” Rachel asked.

“They’re waiting for my command,” Sue replied.

“What do we do?” Brittany asked.

“We split them up,” Quinn stated.

“She’s right,” Rachel said, turning around to look at the rest of them.  “I can have Coach Sylvester instruct them to split up, and then we can go after the groups.  Although, we need to do it quickly before they find out what we’ve done.  That’s why I think we should also split up.”

“I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I’m not leaving Britt alone.”

Rachel looked between Quinn and Santana who had spoken at the same time.  “I’m not asking you to.  Santana, you and Brittany will be together while Quinn and I stay together.  It’s safer if we have someone watching our back.  What does everyone think?”

“I think we don’t have a lot of choice,” Quinn replied.

***

“We should hurry,” Quinn said as she tightened Sue’s restraints.

“What the hell do you think we’re doing?” Santana asked.

Quinn rolled her eyes and then looked at Rachel.  “You can release her now.”

Rachel did as Quinn said, stumbling back for a moment as she released her hold on Coach Sylvester.  It took more out of her than it had when she’d used her powers on Quinn, but Quinn hadn’t tried fighting it the whole time.

“You guys go to the parking lot and then—”

“Find the ones in the cafeteria,” Santana cut in.  “We know.”

“Well, then, what are you waiting for?” Rachel asked, earning a smirk from Quinn.

“Send us a text when you’re done or if you have any trouble,” Quinn said, handing Santana some zip ties.  “Make sure you find a place to put them so someone doesn’t stumble upon them.  And don’t forget where you put them.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Santana replied.  “Come on, B.”

“Be careful,” Brittany said, giving Rachel and Quinn a slight smile.

“We will,” Quinn replied as they all left the room together.  “Lock it.”

Santana rolled her eyes and then put her hand on the doorknob, melting the door shut.  Santana cocked her eyebrow at them before she and Brittany began walking down the hallway, heading toward one of the side doors.

“They’ll be fine,” Rachel said, knowing Quinn was worried even if she didn’t say it.

“Let’s go,” Quinn said, glancing at Rachel.

Rachel followed behind Quinn to the back of the school, stopping just down the hall from the classroom that was being used as storage.  She knew their plan had worked; they had opened one the doors while leaving the other one locked, but they were both closed now, which meant someone had to have closed it.

“They’re in there,” Rachel said.

“I know,” Quinn replied.  “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Rachel said, but as she turned, Quinn reached out, and grabbed her hand.

“Wait,” Quinn suddenly said.

“Is something wrong?” Rachel asked, furrowing her brows.

“No, I just—”

Rather than finishing her sentence, Quinn pulled Rachel forward, crashing their lips together.  Rachel made a slight squeak in surprise, but quickly relaxed into Quinn’s arms.  And even though she knew there were more important matters, for the moment, she really didn’t care.  For the moment, all she could think about was how good it felt to be kissing Quinn again.

“Wait,” Rachel mumbled when Quinn began to pull away.

“We really need to do this,” Quinn said, nodding slightly toward the classroom door.

“I know,” Rachel replied, placing another kiss on Quinn’s lips.  “I just—”

“I know,” Quinn said, putting her hand on Rachel’s cheek.

Rachel sighed and looked down.  “When this is over, will you go on a date with me?”

Quinn smiled, giving her a nod.  “Yeah.”

“Then, let’s get this over with,” Rachel said, kissing Quinn one last time before taking a step back.

“You know what to do?” Quinn asked.

“Of course,” Rachel replied, walking up to the locked door, and putting her hand on it.  “Are you ready?”

Quinn nodded and Rachel silently unlocked the door.  The window in the door was covered, so they couldn’t see inside, but even if the two inside were ready for them, they knew what to do.  Thankfully, thanks to Coach Sylvester, they knew the hunters weren’t armed with guns.  For some reason they seemed to think witches could only be killed by drowning them, burning them, or stabbing them in the heart with a steel knife.  Rachel wasn’t complaining, though; it would have been much harder to go up against them if they had all been armed with guns.

Rachel gave Quinn a nod back and stepped to the side, allowing Quinn to enter first.  Since Rachel didn’t have as much control over her powers, they’d agreed that Quinn should go in and freeze them rather than Rachel trying to control them.

When Quinn opened the door, Rachel couldn’t see what was happening, but she heard a shout from a man and then saw the glow of blue light.  She quickly followed Quinn in, ready to help her if she needed it, but both men were standing in the middle of the room, turned in the other direction with their feet encased in ice.  They were both struggling to free themselves, and one was slashing his knife in their general direction, but Quinn and Rachel were several yards away, far out of his reach.

“Let’s tie them up and lock them in,” Quinn said.

“Be careful,” Rachel said, raising her hand, and causing the knife to fly out of the man’s hand.

***

“They’re not here,” Quinn said.

“What?” Rachel asked, stepping into the choir room behind Quinn.  “Where could they be?”

“I don’t know,” Quinn replied.

“You don’t think they realized what was happening, do you?” Rachel asked.

“Maybe,” Quinn said, glancing at her.  “We should make sure Brittany and Santana are okay.”

Rachel closed the door behind them and stepped away from it as Quinn pulled her phone out.  As she was typing out a message, Rachel heard the phone vibrate and Quinn’s fingers hovered over the phone.

“Come on,” Quinn said, looking up at her after a few moments.

“Where are we going?” Rachel asked.

“The football field,” Quinn replied.  “Santana said they got the group in the parking lot, but as they were coming in, they saw the others heading toward the field.”

“I wonder how they knew,” Rachel remarked, furrowing her brows.

“It doesn’t matter,” Quinn replied.  “What matters is that they’re going to be ready for us.”

“I’m confident we’ll be okay,” Rachel said, reaching out, and squeezing Quinn’s hand.

Rachel didn’t immediately let go, so they held hands as they began walking through the hallway, not letting go of each other until they were outside of the school.  They took the long way around to make sure they weren’t seen and Rachel remained on the lookout for any sign they’d been detected.  Thankfully, they made it to the snack bar without incident, and when they walked inside, Brittany and Santana were waiting on them.

“What the hell took you so long?” Santana asked.

“Are you guys okay?” Brittany asked.

“We’re fine,” Rachel replied, giving her a smile.  “I trust everything went well for you guys?”

“Actually, one of the guys cut Santana’s shoulder,” Brittany said, looking at the other girl in concern.

“I told you, it’s nothing,” Santana replied, putting her hand on Brittany’s shoulder.

“Where?” Quinn asked.

“On her back,” Brittany answered when Santana didn’t.

“Let me see,” Quinn said.

“It’s bleeding a lot,” Brittany added.

“Don’t we have other things to worry about?” Santana asked.  “Like taking the rest of these assholes out.”

“What are we going to do now?” Brittany asked.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to split them up again,” Rachel said.

“No,” Quinn agreed.  “We’re going to have to find another way.”

“What if we just go back to the school and do what we were going to do without the rest of them?” Brittany suggested.

Quinn shook her head.  “I don’t think it’ll work unless they know there’s no hope.  We need to show them they can’t win and give them no choice.”

“But what if they still don’t agree?” Brittany asked.

“We’ll figure that out if it comes to it,” Quinn said, glancing at Rachel.  “But hopefully we can scare them enough so it doesn’t.”

“I hope—where did Santana go?” Rachel asked, noticing the other girl was no longer in the room.

Quinn sighed.  “I’m going to go out on a limb and say she’s probably on the football field.”

“San!” Brittany called out, and before either of them could stop her, she was running out the door.

By the time Quinn and Rachel had run onto the field, Brittany and Santana were fighting six of them at once.  Rachel knew Quinn couldn’t possibly freeze them all at once, but she did manage to stop one in his tracks as he ran at Brittany.  When one of the others became distracted by the new arrivals, Santana set his arm on fire, causing him to flail around.

When two of the men ran toward Rachel, she pushed one of them back, knocking him to the ground, but the other was too fast.  As the knife swung down toward her, though, he stumbled and clutched at his throat.  When he fell to the ground, she saw Brittany looking in their direction, her hand still out.

“Look out!” Rachel yelled, noticing that the man who had been on fire was no longer in flames and was right behind the blonde.

“Stop!”

The men who weren’t already unconscious or rooted to the ground stopped at the sound of Sue’s voice.

“Why should we?” Quinn asked.

“Because we’re done,” Sue replied.

“Who’s to say you won’t come after us again in a month or a year?” Quinn asked.

Rachel could tell by Coach Sylvester’s face that that was exactly what she was planning on doing.  The four of them knew that going in, though.

“We have pictures of all your men,” Rachel stated.  “Or at least the ones inside the school.  “We can find out who they are.”

“And who their families are,” Santana added.

“You know what we can do, so you know we are more than capable of taking the lives of every single one of them,” Rachel continued.  “We don’t want to do that, but—”

“But if it’s us or them, who do you think we’re going to choose?” Quinn said.

“It seems like I underestimated you all,” Sue said.

“You did,” Brittany replied.

“Be sure to never make that mistake again or I promise this will end much worse for you next time,” Quinn said.

“You’ll never see us again,” Sue replied.

Sue nodded toward her men and they all began following her as she turned and walked toward the school.

“Is it really over?” Rachel asked as she watched the hunters retreat.

“It better be,” Santana said, walking past her.

“I’m going to take Santana’s to the nurse’s station,” Brittany said.

“B, let’s just go home,” Santana replied.

Brittany shook her head and linked her pinky with Santana’s.  “Not until I know you’re okay.”

Santana sighed, but walked with Brittany, nevertheless.

“What do we do now?” Rachel asked.

“I have an idea,” Quinn said, a smile appearing on her face as she looked over at Rachel.

***

When Rachel and Quinn walked into the gym for the second time that evening, they received just as many looks as the first time.  Most of them were looking her up and down and she assumed it was because the bottom of her dress was muddy from walking to the football field and that her hair was probably a mess.  Rachel noticed Kurt raise his eyebrow at them as she and Quinn walked through the gym, and she knew what he was probably thinking, but she didn’t care.

As if enough people weren’t already looking at them, even more people began to stare when Quinn took Rachel’s hand and led her onto the dance floor.  If Quinn cared, though, she wasn’t showing up.  As the next song began to play, Quinn pulled Rachel to a stop in the middle of the floor and put her hands on the brunette’s hips while Rachel wrapped hers around Quinn’s neck.

_You’ve got magic inside your finger tips_   
_It’s leaking out all over my skin, yeah_   
_Every time that I get close to you_   
_You’re makin’ me weak with the way you look through those eyes_

“Do you really think this is all over?” Rachel asked as she looked around at the crowd.

Quinn nodded.  “If there’s one thing Coach Sylvester always cared about, it’s her family.  I don’t think she would risk anything happening to her sister.”

“I can’t help feeling bad that we threatened their families,” Rachel said with a slight frown.

“Which is why we didn’t tell you about that part,” Quinn replied with a smile.  “It was actually Brittany’s idea.”

“I’m surprised,” Rachel said.  “Then again, I guess I don’t really know her all that well.”

“You will,” Quinn replied.

_But all I see is your face_   
_All I need is your touch_   
_Wake me up with your lips_   
_Come at me from up above_   
_Yeah, oh, I need you_

_I remember the way that you move_   
_You’re dancin’ easily through my dreams_   
_It’s hittin’ me harder and harder with all your smiles_   
_You are crazy gentle in the way you kiss_

“I wonder what it will be like around here when things are finally normal again,” Rachel commented.  “Well, as normal as it can be now that I know the truth.”

“Believe it or not, it’s usually kind of boring around here,” Quinn replied.

“I think I’ll be more than okay with boring for a little while,” Rachel said.

_All I see is your face_   
_All I need is your touch_   
_Wake me up with your lips_   
_Come at me from up above_

“You know, now that this is all over, I can focus on getting more members for the Glee Club,” Rachel remarked.  “If we can get enough members by the end of next month, we could even compete at sectionals.”

“Is this your subtle way of asking me to join?” Quinn asked.

“Maybe,” Rachel replied.  “You did say you would think about it.”

“I guess it wouldn’t exactly hurt anything,” Quinn said.  “It’s not like everyone isn’t already going to be talking about me after tonight.”

_Oh baby, I need you_   
_To see me, the way I see you_   
_Lovely, wide awake in_   
_The middle of my dreams_

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said, looking around, and seeing that a lot of people were still watching them.  “I didn’t really think about how dancing with me could affect you.”

“Don’t be,” Quinn replied.  “I don’t care.”

“Are you sure?” Rachel asked, looking up at her.

Quinn nodded.  “I like you, Rachel, and I don’t care who knows it.”

_And all I see is your face_   
_All I need is your touch_   
_Wake me up with your lips_   
_Come at me from up above_

Rachel couldn’t help smiling; it was still a little hard for her to believe that the most popular girl in school was interested in her, but she could certainly get used to the idea.  Even after everything she had been through since moving to Lima, she wasn’t sorry that it had happened.  After all, if her fathers hadn’t decided to move them there, she may have never met Quinn.  Though, she liked to think fate would have brought them together once she turned eighteen and found out the truth about her powers.

_All I see is your face_   
_All I need is your touch_   
_Wake me up with your lips_   
_Come at me from up above, yeah, oh, oh_

“Do you have plans for tomorrow night?” Rachel asked.

“Actually, I was hoping I could go on a date with a girl I like,” Quinn said, smiling.

Rachel laughed.  “What a coincidence; I was hoping for the same thing.”

_All I see is your face_   
_All I see is your face_   
_All I see is your face_

“Rachel?” Quinn asked when the song ended.

“Yes?” Rachel said.

“Will you go out with me tomorrow night?” Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled.  “I’d love to, Quinn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song used was Magic by Colbie Caillat.


End file.
